Omega's Valued Prisoner
by Johnnythatonedude
Summary: Just an OC series. It revolves around Omega Squad of whom were apart of a group of Gears on the land after Jacinto's sinking. The group ends up capturing one of the most valuable Locust targets of them all: The daughter of Queen Myrrah.
1. Chapter 1 Moragna

****Omega's Valued Prisoner.****

Chapter 1: Moragna

Upon a forest filled path on the Eastern Central Massif Locusts are marching ahead. About five Locusts, two palace guards, two Theron Guards, and a Theron Sentinel are scouting the path. They look down with their guns aimed to check for any gears and looks about. The Theron Sentinel turns behind him and signals for something to come up. Climbing slowly, a teenage Corpser is pulling a cart. Its not the full forty to fifty feet but rather thirty.

The cart its pulling is rectangular and made from metal. There are areas where windows would be but those are closed with the Locust Symbol on each window. The metal itself has dented and carved into it many designs and glyphs. On the right and left side walks a pair of Grinders. At the end of the cart walks two Palace Guards, two Theron Guards, and an Armored Kantus.

Hiding amongst some rocks higher up on the Massif, a sniper is watching them to the best of his abilities. He is in normal summer Gear armor but without a helmet. Rather than a helmet he has a pair of goggles down and a shaved head. A man in the same kind of armor is looking at them also through binoculars. He lacks a helmet as well and instead has short spiky black hair. The man is fairly young appearing to be in mid twenties while the sniper appears to be in his mid thirties.

"Think we can take'em?" whispered

"Course Tanner, but if we are gonna capture those supplies, we gotta go now." whispered the man with spiky black hair.

"Gotcha boss, which one should I go for first? The Sentinel or the Kantus, what about a Grinder?"

"Down the Sentinel, when the Kantus revives him fire a Torque Bow arrow into its exposed mouth"

"Good plan Gyules." Gyules signals the other two men to get ready. The other two are dressed in normal summer gear armor. One of them is much larger than the other and is holding a Boomshot. He is black and has a thick black beard connecting to his hair. It appears as though he has not even tried to shave but has cut his hair so its not unruly. He also wears a blue headband. On each arm is a tattoo, the right showing an angel praying whereas the left depicts a laughing demon. Tattooed on his forearm to his hand is: "Hand of Destruction." The other soldier merely has on a normal helmet with no tattoos.

The men check the Locust's position and quickly roadie run down and get behind a tree ahead of the Locust position. Gyules quickly rushes and gets behind a tree so he can get behind them. The three wait a minute and then hear a bang seeing the Theron Sentinel brought to all fours from a sniper bullet to the torso. He is lifted in the air being healed by the Kantus as the soldiers get ready. Once the Kantus begins to heal him a Torque Bow hits him in the open mouth and blows its head off. The two soldiers pull out their main assault rifles (The black one holding a Hammerburst while the armored one holds a Lancer.) and open fire into the Locusts killing the Theron Sentinel, a Palace Guard, and a Theron. From behind Gyules throws an ink grenade at a Grinder, then pulling out a Retro Lancer and opening fire into the Locusts killing a Theron Guard, and downing a Palace Guard. Guiles quickly picks up the downed Palace Guard as a Meatshield wielding a Boltok pistol. The first Grinder coughed and gagged within the ink cloud and fell to the ground dead. His lungs were clogged with the thick ink.

"Aiden! Fire your Boomshot at the Mulcher, Osman and I will hold off the others!" shouted Gyules. He fires his Boltok Pistol into the head of a Theron. He fires another shot and gets a head shot on the Theron. The Remaining Locusts head to the side of the cart their sniper is not seeing. The Grinder is walking out only to get hit in the chest with a Boomshot.

"GRIND!" it screamed and began to grind its Mulcher at the black man, Aiden. He rolls away and then reloads. Aiden quickly jumps over and fires the shot at the Grinder killing it.

"Osman, the Corpser seems tame for now, think we should kill it now or no?" asked Gyules.

"I will take care of it." he said running up to the creature as Aiden threw his grenades at the Locusts hiding and trying to think of something. Osman approaches its face and the Corpser does nothing. He takes out a frag grenade and lets it look at it to see if the beast will react.

"Nah never mind, this thing is for carrying not harming." A locust steps out from cover and opens fire at Osman.

"AH SHIT!" said Osman jumping back and then firing his Lancer at the Palace Guard. It goes back wounded.

"K now they are annoying, everyone just run back there and shoot." said Gyules. Osman and Gyules get on opposite sides and run down, Gyules armed with his Retro Lancer, Osman a Gnasher shotgun. The duo runs down that side unloading their ammo on the Locusts running past each other. Most are killed and Aiden moves to kill the wounded.

"K now what does everyone think is in here?" asked Tanner "Milk and cookies? Ammunition? Craaazy Drugs? Or more tickers like the last one..."

"I hope its not tickers." said Osman "Fuck you can't even eat'em! They taste like rust and copper!"

"Blame the all metal diet." said Gyules. Gyules kicks down the door and can hear a few Locusts inside.

"Shit!" said Gyules getting into cover. Osman gets into it also as Tanner merely awaits at the door with his Torque Bow ready. Inside of it a Grenadier rushes up shouting: "FOR THE PRINCESS!" A Torque Bow nails him and blows him back dead and in a few pieces.

"Shit got some on me!" said Gyules.

"At least you didn't breath it in, you'd get a disease of some sort." said Osman. Before the two begin to fight Tanner screams at them both to shut up.

"DID ANYONE ELSE HERE WHAT IT SAID! For the princess!"

"I actually can't understand a word they say." said Osman.

"Do they even speak our language...or at all?" Tanner facepalms.

"Well you two are morons, this cart might possibly have a Locust princess however that looks."

"I betcha its a like a Berserker in a dress." said Osman as Gyules began to climb in. The three enter only to have a sawed off shotgun shoved in their guts. Standing there holding the gun is a small girl (Small for the Gears) in armour similar to Myrrah's. Instead it lacks the head piece exposing her long straightened natural gray hair that goes to her butt and the forearm armour is rather just some metal plating that isn't as thick as Myrrah's. She has on metal gloves as well. The girl stands at about 5,7 with a curvier figure than Myrrah. Her eyes are a beautiful blue. She also appears to be only in her early twenties.

"Um...wow was not expecting that..." said Tanner.

"One shot of this at this range and you will all die." she said "Now would you fucking humans kindly step out of here."

"Why not just fucking fire it!" said Tanner.

"Because you aren't worth the ammo!" she snapped.

"Its unloaded isn't it?" said Tanner.

"WHAT! No! Shut up pathetic human!" Gyules slowly reaches for the sawed-off shotgun.

"Hey stop that!" she said only to have the sawed-off shotgun snatched from her. Gyules checks the ammo.

"Yup its empty." he said. The girl growls and then slams her fist into Tanner's face and is about to punch Gyules but he catches her fist. Gyules holds her other arm and slams her to the wall next to him. She begins struggling and knees him in the groin.

"FUCK!" said Gyules voice now high as he hit the ground. Tanner is tending to his nose as she runs up and Osman tries to block the door. She takes one of Tanner's gorgon pistols off of his belt and slams it into Osman's head.

"SHIT!" said Osman as she beat him a few times and then began to run out. The locust girl looks back only to run into large Aiden who merely grabs her shoulders.

"Stay still little Stranded girl, we will not hurt you." said Aiden. She struggles but is unable to get out of the large man's grip. The three are walking out of the cart.

"I AM NOT STRANDED! LET GO OF ME HUMAN!" she barked.

"Great you got the bitch who broke my nose!" said Tanner as he gripped his nose.

"Nice job." said Aiden looking down at the girl.

"Sometimes I think you people hate me."

"We do!" snapped Gyules gripping his groin "Fuck this armour needs more groin protection!" Osman is rubbing where he was hit.

"And she almost dented my freakin helmet. Why the hell did you have to hit me so much!" complained Osman.

"Fuck, Osman, Tanner go grab the rope from the camp, tie her up." said Gyules falling to the ground. "I'll...help you in a bit."

"Did she hit you that hard?" asked Tanner holding his head back as Osman ran up "Or are you that weak?"

"She has an armoured leg and did hit hard, of course it fucking hurts still! I will be fine in a minute, now go lazy ass." complained Gyules on the ground as Osman got there and was heading back with their stuff. When he arrived Aiden forced the girl to the ground as she struggled. His immense strength forced her there though.

"Shit, why the fuck don't you just kill me you fucking humans."

"Because you look human..." said Gyules "And I wanna know who you are!" Osman quickly ties the rope around her body and then the group began to prep camp around the cart. Once night had come they had a camp ready. A roaring fire, advanced sentries were quickly prepared, meals were being prepped, and Tanner was digging through the cart. Osman and Gyules sat on logs while Aiden had a makeshift bench made out of Locust corpses. The locust girl was bound with rope from under her breasts to her hips.

"Sure that much rope is needed?" asked Osman.

"Tanner did so and we don't have much need for rope anyways." The locust girl glares at them.

"And once I am released this 'Tanner' shall suffer and die the worst death!"

"You couldn't even load a sawed-off shotgun and your forces are now under Aiden's ass. Do you really believe you have any room to make threats?" asked Osman.

"Don't argue with her, she is just a brainwashed human and we need to get her therapy." Before the girl can shout Tanner walks out of the cart holding a book made with human leather.

"She is not a human, well as far as I can say. We right now, have captured one of the most valuable targets we could've captured before Jacinto sank and the COG died about three or so months ago. I dunno my calender is gone. Either way, we captured the princess of the grubs!" The three stare at him for a while until Gyules finally says it: "What?"

"The Queen of the Grubs, Myrrah had a baby, probably raped a Done as thats how their entire popular is made, and this one came out."

"And you read my diary...you mother fucker you don't read diaries!" she stated in disbelief that he did so.

"Why the fuck did you do that! THAT WAS MY DIARY THAT IS PERSONAL! YOU FUCKING HUMANS ALL DESERVE TO DIE! Can't let personal objects remain as is, can't let us take the surface, you always fight when you should realize you will just lose in the end!" Princess Locust continues to ramble as Tanner takes his backpack over.

"Really, now what are you doing, hey-mmmph!" she stated as Tanner took out a roll of duct tape and put it over her mouth. He rips off that piece.

"Finally, some peace and quiet." stated Osman as he laid back and put his hands behind his head.

"So what are we to do with her?" asked Aiden.

"Well I suggest we go to camp and ask Conway. Either we kill her or see if we can manipulate her to make the Locusts quit attacking. Another possible idea is if Myrrah finds out she is with us we can leave camp and live our lives leading the Locusts away."

"Wait the third one sounds like suicide!" said Tanner.

"Before you complain its just a suggestion! Now get some rest men! Tomorrow we go back to Conway's camp."

The End


	2. Chapter 2 Lambent

**Omega's Valued Prisoner. **

Chapter 2: Lambent.

Currently the sun has risen and it is morning. Aiden is awake before everyone standing on one knee muttering a prayer. Within his hands clasped together are black prayer beads. Aiden is always up early, and after his prayer walks over to a now active fire where he is cooking a meal. He approaches Osman's sleeping bag which is zipped up so he is within it, and shakes it a little.

"Ugh, is there breakfast?" he muttered from within.

"I will make you some if you need it." said Aiden.

"I do."

"Then get up and I will make the five of us a nice meal. I caught us something nice." Osman pulls it open exposing his tan face. He has short black hair and a soul patch.

"I hope this isn't roadkill soup again." he said frightened it would be.

"No this is better than! I found a nice recipe to cook Locust."

"...I am gonna be sick! We are eating Locust!" said Osman "This is a new low even for you." Aiden laughs a little.

"Nah its a surprise, get up and you'll get some." Osman climbs out of the tent. He is wearing his normal Gears armor pants and a black T-shirt. He walks clumsily to his makeshift bench almost tripping twice and gets to his bench. Osman is handed an old metal circle with what looks like, a 5-star meal.

"What is this!" said Osman.

"This, is what this Locust girly of ours was fed every day. Eat up, don't know how much of it we got left or how long we will keep those crates. Then you got to take down your sentry and load it into the cart. We can probably follow that on a path and make it back home."

"...How early do you get up?" asked Osman.

"I have been awake for two hours now as usual." Osman is about to say something but realizes they should be used to it and just remains quiet. An hour or so later Tanner finally wakes up. Gyules and Moragna waking up before him. Moragna is still bound but without the duct tape. Gyules is feeding her a meal as he tends to his own.

"You are feeding the prisoner? Can't she have road kill soup or something?" asked Tanner as he was getting up.

"Aiden prepped the meal, we feed it to her. Just cause she is a prisoner doesn't mean we have to go out of our way to treat her like crap." said Gyules.

"...Douche." said Tanner as he was handed a plate.

"I am tempted to give him roadkill soup...or make him into it." Gyules muttered to Moragna.

"If you hate him why not just kill him?"

"Because we need every man we can and it takes a long time for a human to mature." Before she can say something he cuts a bit of the meat off of her plate and puts it in her mouth. She chews and swallows the food.

"Good human meat, I see you guys do cannibalism also." said Moragna with an evil smile.

"Wait what..." said Osman.

"FUCK!" said Tanner gagging after eating his first bite. Aiden doesn't care and Gyules looks disgusted.

"She is bluffing." said Aiden.

"How do you know! We know these creatures eat us!" said Tanner. He throws his plate of food out.

"Wasted a plate, but the real answer is because she is grinning evilly and I have had human before. Tastes different, much worse."

"You are a sick man Aiden." said Osman. Aiden snickers a little.

"Once the soul is gone the body is useless, its still good meat."

"Well doesn't matter for me, I am out food anyways." said Tanner.

"May I have more?" asked Moragna.

"After that trick..." Gyules shoves the entire meat in her mouth. "Have it all." He walks off as she tries to chew it all look pissed at him. Moragna could think of a million harsh comments to say to them at any moment, but for now unless angered to the point she would not lash out but at least try to mess with them.

"So after we eat we are gonna pack up and leave guys."

"Sir if I may request, may we take the cart?" asked Aiden.

"Can we drive it?"

"I will go confirm that." said Tanner walking off. He comes back a few minutes later.

"Of course you drive it!" said Moragna "You killed the Grenadier who learned from a Beast Rider how to drive it though. You merely look at a little screen and you can see through areas on the little lights on its leg armor."

"Oh...alright then, I got dibs on driving it!" said Tanner.

"You are welcome to do so, in cart fighting I doubt you'd be any good." said Gyules.

"HEY! I got my Gorgon Pistols for a reason!"

"Just drive." Tanner mumbles a few curses and walks into the cart. Inside the cart its set up pretty nice. An old chair is at a control panel in front in which the beast operates a bit like a car. To the opposite side of the door are three large crates, two stacked on top near going to the ceiling, and one next to it thats been opened to get the food. The floor is stone and markings bear the inside of it as well. A soft lovely bed sits at the end of the end with a block of granite as a nightstand. A jewelry box sits on it with a necklace bearing a Locust symbol pendent laying on top of it. Moragna is carried in and placed on the bed as Osman get inside. Aiden climbs from to the roof of it which has multiple crates on it though smaller which can act as cover. Possibly someone was meant to be on top but they did not put one up there or the Locust up there was killed. Gyules goes out and grabs one of the Mulcher's left over. He picks it up to the best of his abilities as Aiden grabs the barrel and with ease pulls it on top. They do the same with the other one and everyone gets in.

"K lets see how fast this thing will go!" said Tanner as Gyules climbed in. Tanner looked at the little screen and began driving it.

"Hard to believe what the Locusts accomplished...by accomplished I mean they just obviously used old technology to create this shit."

"We know they are resourceful, a reason why they were winning. We are just better." said Osman.

"Well considering they turned old crossbows we tossed into the hollow into one of my favorite weapons the Torque Bow."

"We basically had to learn a lot of our stuff from your old shit. Luckily we have Locusts smart enough to do so." said Moragna.

"Doesn't matter lets just get back to camp as fast as we can." said Gyules.

"Alright gonna speed up." said Tanner. Tanner begins to make the thing go as fast as he can. The Corpser is running at intense speeds sending them almost flying back. Aiden on top is trying to keep his Mulchers from flying away as the thing speeds forward. Tanner slows it down and shouts apologies to them all. Nothing much occurs along the path until they are out of the woods and in moreso of a grassland.

"Its hard to believe how well this land grew back." said Osman looking through the window. "The COG burned everything outside of the Jacinto Plateau yet so many forests popped up."

"The ash is good for the soil, wherever there is death there is life." said Aiden from the roof.

"And wherever there are Gears there are enemies, I SEE A STALK!" shouted Moragna. The guys all look at what she is looking out to only see a dead stalk.

"Its dead and hasn't been cut down and made into firewood." said Gyules "It could be old but keep an eye out anyways." As they inch away from that they hear a sound and a stalk comes out of the ground with a few Lambent Drones coming out of pods, along with a Drudge to the right side of the cart.

"We got company!" said Aiden as he picked up his Mulcher and began grinding it at the Drudge. The Druge begins to mutate and a grows a headsnake. Osman and Gyules open the windows only to have Osman sprayed with some Imulsion. He screams in pain and gets into cover as Gyules fires his Lancer at the headsnake. The Drudge blows up and Osman takes out his pistol killing the headsnake. More drones begin to come out and fire at the Corpser and the cart.

"Think they can do any damage?" asked Osman.

"Don't appear to." The Lambent drones are quickly killed by Aiden's Mulcher and he kills the pods. Two more Stalks arise one behind and one in the center of the road. A Gunker comes out of the one in front of the road.

"I got an idea!" said Tanner as he floored it. The cart went speeding towards the Gunker and the Corpser rammed it and stopped instantly as they felt something hit the front of the cart. Outside Aiden looks over and sees the Gunker retract its slicing arm. The Corpser's head is split in two. He unleashes the last of the first Mulcher to kill it and gets into cover as Imulsion is sprayed about. The Lambent are incoming.

"Shit, TANNER GET THIS THING MOVING YOU DICKWEED!" shouted Gyules as he opened a window and shot down two Lambent.

"I am trying but the Corpser is dead!"

"And now we are dead...just great I always figured the infection would kill me!" shouted Moragna.

"Be quiet! We don't need your support!" said Gyules. Gunfire comes at him and he has to get into cover. He blind fires and harms a Lambent but doesn't kill it. The door is kicked down and Osman rolls over to it and fires his Gnasher twice to kill two Lambent coming in. Tanner gets out two Gorgon pistols.

"GUYS! Get out of the cart, we are gonna be cornered and killed here! Go to the old subway ruins we might be able to defend there!" shouted Aiden as he killed Lambent finishing off the second and last Mulcher's rounds.

"He is right, Osman, go first!" said Gyules. Osman uses his Gnasher on two more guys and then Roadie Runs forward. Gyules grabs Moragna and she is light enough that after Tanner goes ahead he can carry her. Gyules carries her bridal style as Aiden jumps down crushing a Lambent and enduring the explosion as he fires his hammerburst at them. A former Grenadier runs up and Aiden pulls out a grenade quickly slamming it into the Lambent's face, throwing it into the increasing group which is now ranking in fifty men and Roadie Runs off to the rest of the guys by the dead Corpser. Aiden fires his Boomshot into the ongoing horde of Lambent and then throws a frag grenade into the now thick horde of Lambent coming.

"K run when?" asked Tanner.

"One second!" said Gyules as he took out his Retro Lancer and cut the ropes restraining Moragna.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making it easier to bring you along, ROADIE RUN NOW!" he shouted as they began to run towards the ruins of an old subway and get behind a car parked there. Moragna was barely able to keep up and they all took some hits to the back. Luckily their armour mostly blocked the bullets.

"Fuck even through the armour their bullets hurt a bit!" said Osman.

"It'll heal! Get firing at them, use grenades, do whatever you can to hold them off! We have flashlights once in the subway which we can navigate to the end of it and then come out and head back to the tunnel having lost them." shouted Gyules.

"Alright lets do this!" said Aiden standing up throwing his two of his three grenades at the same time. He then takes his Boomshot and begins screaming a battle cry as he is firing it. Tanner throws a smoke grenade, Osman one frag, then another, and the last thrown is by Gyules who throws a smoke. Osman's frag stuck to a Lambent's face who tried to charge at them but explodes sending his Hammerburst at them. Gyules catches it with one hand and hands it to Moragna.

"I don't care if you don't know how to use it, just fire." he said. Lambent were running out of the smoke but kept getting gunned down and exploding. Every time a Drudge came out the guys would focus their ammunition into its stomach and make it explode. After twenty eight dead Lambent drones, and five dead Drudges they were all behind cover with little ammo.

"Shit!" said Osman "Run to the subway now? I think we should find enough ammo for the trip there."

"Course, HURRY HURRY HURRY!" he said signaling them to run down. The guys run down the subway as Gyules stands up and is firing at the Lambent. One is running close with a shotgun and he slams his Retro Lancer's bayonet into it's eyes and kicks it back doing a tumble down and tripping down the stairs. Gyules falls on top of Moragna as Aiden slams a grenade on the wall. Osman and Tanner pull back Moragna pulling Gyules who is on top of her as the explosion goes off collapsing the staircase. There is silence within the darkness and then they all hear: "GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME HUMAN!"

Moragna throws Gyules off of her slams the gun into his back.

"DON'T EVER TOUCH ME YOU WEAK PATHETIC HUMAN!" Gyules gets up dusting himself off.

"Sorry sorry Prince Bitch for trying not to get shot! I saved your ass too giving that gun."

"If I never met you I wouldn't of been in that situation hence been fine, happy, and helping end your species like it will soon." Osman shines a flashlight at them.

"How cute, they are in love!" he joked.

"Mora and Klause sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G." sang Tanner.

"Klause? And what does that spell!"

"It spells this!" said Klause Gyules punching Tanner hard, his own face a little red.

"Someone is sensitive!" said Tanner.

"Both of you do not mock the commander, now is not the time." said Aiden. He is difficult to see and is farther ahead of them.

"We have Wretches living in here." said Aiden.. Moragna appears happy when the light is shined at her.

"Awe I LOVE WRETCHES! They are so cute and playful!" she said. Omega Squad looks at her weird and she returns the look.

"What? Never played with a Wretch? All of the Locust creatures are cute and playful but Wretches are the most playful."

"Bet she can get a Brumak to roll over?" asked Osman.

"Lets hope if we see one she makes it play dead." said Tanner. The guys begin to rush down the tunnel.

"What about your supplies, do you care for those at all?" asked Moragna.

"We will deal without them, we can merely say we all we caught was you." said Gyules "Whether Conway will be pleased you arrive or not we'll see. If he isn't then might just need to kill you."

"Great so I am at the mercy of this human whether he likes me or not, why don't I just kill you guys right now, I got a gun. Give me a reason" said Moragna.

"Because if you shoot one one of us dead then the survivors will kill you. Gears are not trained to take prisoners of war so don't get angry if I am too kind or cruel with this!" stated Gyules with anger in his voice. "Now we must get going, there will be Wrenches ahead and a possibly Stranded settlement. You Locusts have no idea how many settlements you missed and how well humanity survives."

"Hope we don't find any Stranded, fuckin hate them." said Osman.

"They are just trying to survive like the rest of us and the fucking COG did kind of, oh you know, burn their homes and friends into shit."

"They still don't have to be so hostile to us! Its not like we were the ones who did so specifically."

"No but we represent those who did so, I pity them and everyone in that area. If only we used a different strategy." said Gyules.

"If we did we wouldn't be here now then! Would we?" said Tanner.

"Might not be! If we kept to coastal cities and used as Adam Fenix had suggested to sink Jacinto then we would be relaxing and have never met." said Gyules.

"Wait Adam Fenix? I know him!" said Moragna as they began to wander off of the railways and onto a different railway. The sounds of Wretches hoping about can be heard making Omega uneasy. They still have to ask about this though.

"You know him currently? The bastard hero is dead!" said Osman.

"Well, mom spoke of him and when I was little and would run around our house I saw him and mom talking a few times. Mom would sometimes be kind to him, but other times she would be angry and demanding, yelling at him furiously and even hit him a few times. He is the one human I assume could've even been remotely good at something." confessed Moragna.

"Eager to give out a history, aren't we? So Adam Fenix knew the queen...as that info we got last week revealed. Thank god we still get some information from the former COG." said Tanner "Well used to but now all relies are dead ever since a raccoon chewed through our hidden satellite dish's wire."

"Smooth..." said Moragna before they all began to hear a terrible scream. A wretch stood with the light shining brightly behind it as it screamed. Three wretches, ran past it and at them.

"Come here little guys!" shouted Moragna getting on her knees with her arms spread. The three Wretches run up and into her arms as she barely manages to hug them all. The fourth runs up and she begins scratching under the jaw of one and the tummy of one. The one getting its tummy scratched rolled over and was kicking its legs.

"Come on, show them some love guys!" she shouted "Do it or they will attack." Tanner aims at one and Gyules smacks the back of his head.

"We are low on ammo, don't waste." said Gyules. Aiden was already on the ground and had one laying in his lap as he petted it. Two more ran up and Gyules got down next to Moragna and began rubbing the stomach of one. Tanner merely looks pissed at the creatures until one begins running up against him and looks up at him expecting. Tanner glares at it until Gyules slams his fist into Tanner's knee. Tanner gets down and begins petting them.

"Ah, their skin is like sandpaper!" he said.

"Don't complain."

"Aha! I like these creatures, think we can keep up for the rode sir?" asked Aiden as he took one Tanner neglected and held it into the air. He placed it on the ground and began to pet it vigorously.

"I think we should, can we Gyules?" asked Moragna "It'll make me think more of you humans!"

"Eh it'd be too many mouths to feed, four men, a human girl-"

"LOCUST! I AM NOT A HUMAN!" The Wretches growl at Tanner.

"Okay okay okay! Fine, Locust, Locust girl and a little monkey beast thing."

"Fine, we keep one Wretch, one! Moragna, pick which one, name it, then we head to that Stranded settlement ahead for any directions or trade or anything at all." Gyules gets up and begins walking off as the Wretches run up to Moragna, wave bye to her and leave." In the end the only Wretch left is the one sleeping in Aiden's lap which he lifts up.

"I name you after the greatest warrior to have fallen, Tai." said Aiden "The name will give it power." He begins to walk towards the light holding the Wretch as Moragna admired it. Walking ahead of the group was Osman, Tanner, and Gyules.

"Are you insane! Letting her keep that, that beast with us!" shouted Tanner "It will kill us in our sleep!"

"If it goes feral we will kill it and it appears tame with her around, besides a pet might increase our morale a bit."

"I am sorry but I must agree with Tanner here, we can't let that thing with us!" said Osman.

"Obey my order and be quiet Osman! We can let her keep it, make her a bit happy, Conway is probably gonna have her killed anyways." said Gyules.

"She deserves to die! She has been killing off our entire fucking race!" said Tanner. Gyules growls a bit and is tempted to lash out at him. Rather he just sighs and simply turns to him stating as they got to the Stranded settlement: "She has done nothing wrong, is not commanding troops, and is merely related to Myrrah. Just because she is related doesn't make her in the least bit responsible for any of the problems the Locusts have created. Now be quiet we got Stranded to deal with. Lets not let them know what she is." Gyules steps back a bit over to Moragna who was admiring the Wretch.

"Mora, for this city you need to pretend to be human. If anyone asks you stole the armour from a fallen Locust cart. Do this not for our safety but for your own because if you say you are Locust you will certainly end up shot and dead." said Gyules "Got it?" Moragna sighs appearing annoyed.

"Fine if I must to survive. Its really starting to look tempting to just take my chances and kill your squad." said Moragna.

"Don't express how much of a spoiled fucking grub you are around us, okay? You are with Gears for the time being, you do what you can to survive, accept what you can, eat whats edible, and you survive any way possible." said Gyules. He steps back with Osman and Tanner.

"Why is he such a hard ass?" asked Moragna.

"Oh he has been in a bad mood for a long while now. His girlfriend


	3. Chapter 3 Tunnels

**Omega's Valued Prisoner. **

Chapter 3: Tunnels

Omega squad walks up and into a shining light of the Stranded settlement. A gruff man stands up wearing a loose shirt advertising some sort of game and loose pants. He has a thick moustache and no hair visible underneath his hat.

"Well well well, lookie here. We got us some COG bastards!" he said and then spit tobacco into a cup. Gyules turns to his men and whispers that he'll handle whatever he is going to do.

"We just wa-"

"WE DON'T GOT ANY!"

"Well-"

"FUCK OFF COG!"

"LISTEN TO ME YOU FUCKING STRANDED! WE JUST WANT HAVE SOME SHELTER AND GET DIRECTIONS! IF YOU KEEP DOING THAT WE WILL BE STUCK HERE LONGER ANNOYING YOU! NOW MUST WE KEEP DOING THIS! Besides we got us a pet wrench that can call together other wretches that'll kill you" shouted Tanner.

"Pff...alright then. Dunno why you'd keep that Wretch anyways." said the guy and then turned around.

"HEY WE GOT US SOME COG GUYS WHO WANT DIRECTIONS AND WE GOTTA GIVE IT TO THEM OR ELSE THEY WILL JUST STAY HERE FOREVER! Lets get this over with!" The man begins to turn a wheel and then that opens the gate which is an old garage door. The squad begins to walk in and the man walks down.

"Oh hello! Willing to the trade the old lady for anything?" he asked looking over Moragna. "Heheh, her hair may be whitened but her body still looks young."

"WHY YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO-" Mora began to yell until Gyules pulled her back and had his hand over her mouth.

"Let me talk to her for one second in private." Gyules pulls her away behind some crates.

"Don't yell so much! K humans are going to be jerks and whatnot but if you reveal you are the Locust Princess then we will all get shot to shit or just Omega will and then you will be raped...a lot." he angry whispered.

"Sorry I am not used to people hitting on me and I am not old! Hell why does he think I am even human!"

"You look human! Now suck it up and deal with it. I will keep the men off the best I can! Now l go back out there and deal with it."

"Fine!" she said annoyed and turned away from him.

"Just be glad I haven't killed you or anything." The two walk out.

"K we talked, look just try to keep back from comments from her. She has a bit of a...temper..." said Gyules "So its best for your own safety you don't mock her. She is dressed in advanced Locust armor for their Queen we stole from a cart."

"Oh...so thats why she has so many Locust emblems."

"Now take us to your leader so they can advise us and we can go!" yelled Gyules.

"Fine." said the guy and began to guide them through the the station. As they walked Stranded gave them dirty looks or looked afraid. They had poor shacks made from pieces of metal, old windows, often pieces of gates in front of a house as a fence. The lighting was only from old subway lights and as they neared the track they found people were living in the subway carts. The train itself was in fine condition though much of the paint coming off and the symbol of the COG was on the sides of the front cart in red.

They kept walking until a girl walks up to them from a house. She has two black lines going on the bottom sides of her cheek painted on and long black hair. She has on a loose tan top and torns jeans with medium length black hair in a small pony tail. Osman steps back a little as she has a small smile on her face and walks up to Osman.

"Hands off your superiors!" said Osman putting his gun in front of her. She punches Tanner in the face.

"MY FUCKING NOSE!" he screams as she pulls off Osman's helmet.

"Always know its you brother as much as you wanna hide it?" He sighs.

"What do you want sister?"

"For you to leave the COG and join the trading party with me again."

"You bother me with this everytime we meet, hell you are one of the reasons I wear a helmet!" he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Just step away we gotta deal with this again." said Tanner as they all stepped back. The two were going into a deep argument as the Stranded man just waited.

"What is up with those two and she called him brother?"

"They are siblings. Osman was once a member of a Stranded trading party that went through dangerous trade routes to get to areas. They were known for being able to to go through any area and come out perfectly fine and with enough ammo stolen from your people that they hardly to buy any. When the COG needed people for Operation lifeboat out of the group only Osman signed up. Ever since no matter when they meet, him and his sister argue over his decision." explained Aiden "She even tried to force him back but failed badly."

"Why did he sign up? Couldn't he just accept death?"

"Mora, you need to learn a lot on humans when we get to the camp." said Gyules facepalming.

"Well you are the cause of this entire war! If you would just accept death, let us move in as we are meant to there wouldn't be this problem."

"People are staring, get off this topic!" said Tanner. Before Mora can add something Osman steps away from his sister and his sister stomps off.

"Denied her once more." he said putting his helmet on. The Stranded guy continues to lead them and they walk there in silence, Osman seeming a bit down. They approach the main building which is where all of the workers would've been controlling and repairing the subways trains and whatnot. They go to the control room and approach a man sitting in the chair. He is dressed in old COG armor taken from a dead soldier, the bullet holes that killed the soldier are repaired sloppily and visible. He has his fingers folded together and a smug look on his face. He has on an old hat similar to Hoffman's.

"Ello COG bastards. You tried to burn us to death long ago and yet you come here craving supplies and aid? Give me a reason to let you live and help you."

"Because I didn't push the button." said Gyules "Right now we are all trying to survive and if humanity is to finally defeat the Locusts we need to work together."

"Alright...now tell me why is she dressed in Locust armor then continue.

"We raided a Locust cart and she took the armor since hers was shit. If anything we can rather with violence, just solve this nice and everyone is happy. Then you have less dead people, we have less dead people, and more Locusts and Glowies will die in the future. The more dead Glowies and Locusts the more people survive, the more people survive, the better."

"Well, actually tell me, which COG bastard are you working for?"

"We are Conway's men." said Gyules.

"Oh Conway, yes then I got you guys a path. We tried many years ago to build a tunnel to raid Conway's camp when we were running low on supplies. We made it to the end and as we were securing it a stalk came out."

"I remember seeing that on the cliff" said Tanner "We almost wasted our time with it but then it died."

"Yeah, a Gunker came out and the men all died preventing it from coming down the tunnel. It blew up and mostly collapsed it. The rocks fell oddly and we discovered that a tunnel one could crawl through went by. If you are lucky it will take you all the way there."

"Well guys, shall we take it?" asked Gyules.

"Seems a bit risky...what if it doesn't?"asked Tanner.

"Eh we can risk it and possibly dig it out more-"

"I am not giving you a choice. Take the tunnel out now, or my men will shoot the men in the ass and something different in the girl's ass."

"We are taking this tunnel, now!" said Mora grabbing Gyules by the back of his shirt and beginning to drag him off.

"LEAD US TO THE TUNNEL! I AM HAVING NOTHING DONE TO ME BY YOU STUPID HUMANS!"

"Fiesty..." said the guy as he pointed to the same Stranded who lead them there. That guy leads them through a few areas and to a wall filled with stone and a little flap on the bottom.

"K, get in." he said. Gyules begins to go in first.

"Hey man, mind if I take point on this? If we run into any burrowing Tickers or Corpsers I wanna be sure to stab them first." asked Osman.

"Alright then, we will go in his order, Osman, Mora, me, Tanner, and Aiden."

"Why am I second?" asked Mora "If I am a hostage shouldn't I be center?"

"What matters is if we are surrounding you, now don't complain and get in there." Osman takes out his trench knife and flashlight and crawls in. Mora gets on all fours.

"Well hope you like the view, because its gonna be in your face this whole time." she said and crawled in. Gyules' face reddens a bit and then he crawls in behind her. Tanner laughs at that and Aiden goes in last.

"I can see that blush." said Tanner.

"And I can see your head on a spike."

"Shutting up..." They begin to crawl through the tunnel the only light source being the light on their armour, and Osman's flashlight.

"How far do you think this tunnel goes?" asked Tanner as they keep going.

"Depends on the angle, if anything it could be a kilometer and a half, to thirty meters. More than likely a kilometer since this was in the tunnel." said Mora.

"The mountain isn't up that high nor is the subway that low. Its still high but not a kilometer. It shouldn't take too long if it goes through." said Aiden.

"Well then lets keep going." The group would remain silent for a while until after an hour of slowly crawling through they began to hear a noise.

"What is that?" asked Tanner.

"Even I cannot distinguish it." said Aiden.

"Its obvious...wild tickers!" said Mora "Anyone got a spare knife? These eat anything!"

"Wait what are tickers doing underground?"

"They burrow for their nests we may be encountering a few which means the surface is only a meter away." said Mora. Gyules reaches, though difficult with the spacing, to his Retro Lancer and then squeezes on the end of the bayonet and takes it out. He then slides his knife back to Mora.

"You have a knife now." he said with his bayonet ready.

"Why the hell are you so nice to her!" shouted Tanner.

"Have no reason to hate her. Unlike what most of you guys believe, I can tell...she is merely an innocent alongside this. She obviously commanded nothing, has no combat experience, and merely is unfortunate enough to be Myrrah's daughter. We can still use her, but no reason to torture her. Besides if she was truly important...she would've had the Onyx guards with her." said Gyules.

"Oh yeah, shit I forgot about those. Damn I loved that fight!" said Osman.

"You mean you fought our Onyx guys and lived? K you are fortunate! Those things have wiped out tons of humans."

"Yeah we encountered them during Operation: Hollow Storm when we invaded the Hollow." said Tanner "I sniped a Theron from a group of them as they were heading to the surface. They rushed back and one of them had this...sawed off shotgun with a bayonet. It was weird, but it charged at us and killed Derek."

"Yeah there were three Onyx Therons, an Onyx Mauler, and an Onyx Grenadier. The one that killed Derek Osman took care of with his Gnasher." said Gyules.

"It was a tough wanker, took a powerful hit from farther off and then I had to get right up next to it as it threw the body off and fire killing it. Then the Mauler charged and bullets just bounced off of it's shield. Aiden got into epic combat with that so he says but we missed it."

"The rest of this story will be for later, right now we have a problem..." said Aiden. The ticking sound is near and then a ticker bursts open the wall and attempts to bite Gyules. Gyules holds it back and then slams his knife into its head. Its still biting and he just holds it there, twisting the knife and it dies. One starts coming from down the tunnel and Osman quickly draws out his snub pistol and fires twice killing the Ticker." From the side near that one two more crawl out and then he shoots them twice each. A ticker crawls from behind and Tanner gets on his back and pulls out his Gorgon pistol firing at the ticker and killing it.

"Shit!" said Osman as he checked and saw this was his last clip

"AH CRAP!" screamed Tanner as he saw more coming from behind and began firing his last clips of his Gorgon pistol killing them. A ticker dug to Mora and then she just thrust her knife at it weakly stabbing it in the forehead but it lived. It bit her side and she yelped and stabbed three more times.

"OH SHIT!" screamed Osman and fired his last two snub pistol bullets at a Ticker with an Imulsion tank on its back. It falls down dead and the gases come out for it to explode.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" shouted Gyules. The explosion goes off and now the tunnels begin to shake. Rocks begin falling in and out of place and an opening is made out between two Ticker holes by Gyules.

"EVERYONE OUT!" screamed Gyules as he quickly roadie ran through. Mora followed, then Aiden, then Osman, then Tanner. The group runs into a large rock slate and then to the mountain and begins to see rocks shaking and falling. They are in the corner of the mountain as the side they came from is collapsing, but the other side is doing fine. They can even see the hole to Conway's camp up there.

"QUICKLY EVERYONE! RUN UP THIS SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN! GO NOW IF YOU WANNA LIVE!" screamed Gyules as he grabbed Mora and pushed her up the side of a large boulder. He helped the rest of them and then Aiden helped him up as an avalanche began to occur on the other face of the mountain.

"Shit its an avalanche!"said Osman as the rocks tumbled.

"What the hell is an avalanche?" asked Mora.

"When a lot of big and tiny rocks fall down a mountain and kill idiots like yourself too stupid to move, lets go!" said Tanner and then they began running on the rocks up the mountain as the boulder they were on fell. Rocks were tumbling beneath their feet as they kept climbing. After getting about a meter up Gyules climbs into a tree and the rest follow as jumps to another tree and then to some stable rocks. The rest do the same, Mora needing to be thrown by Aiden as she is reluctantly to do so. Once they are all on the stable rock they all sit down and watch the avalanche keep going now growing smaller and the tunnel revealed. They are all panting heavily.

"I didn't think a ticker blast could do that much shit!" said Osman removing his helmet. He fans himself with it a bit."Whoah!"

"I am surprised we are alive." said Tanner "HIGH FIVE! COG -1, Nature -76!" he said putting his hand up for a high-five. Aiden gives it to him since he won't put it down.

"Why is nature losing so much?" asked Mora.

"Because we burned the hell out of it to burn you Locusts, then we flooded the Hollow, completely raped the Southern Islands and their unique species, and I am not even sure if animals still exist now with the Lambent, Locusts, and COG feeding off of them." explained Tanner "Just locust creatures left."

"Touche...at least you aren't eating Tickers like I had to...god they taste like feet!" said Mora.

"You ate one meal of it, that is much of our meals." said Gyules.

"BLEH! God am I gonna have to eat that stuff."

"If you live, yes." he said and then began marching up again. They all followed and the group finally, after three stories, reached Conway's camp.

"HOME SWEET HOME!" said Tanner as he walked to the gate.

The End


	4. Chapter 4 Home

**Omega's Valued Prisoner. **

Chapter 4: Home

Currently, the group is walking to the gate.

"Hey, CARTER, NIXON! We are back." shouted Gyules. Two gears run up and check who it is.

"Oh...you are alive...and picked up a girl in the Queen's armor...girlfriend?" asked Carter.

"No, she is something else, let us in." The gears shrug and open the gate. The guys begin to walk in.

"Wait I see no supplies you brought, what the hell was the point of this?" asked Mora.

"We had a raven gathering the supplies, our only Raven, and it ran out of fuel and went back after we finished so fuel is not wasted." said Gyules as they entered. Once they get past the gates they can see the entire place is within a very tall tunnel. Buildings made of scrap metal are built into the walls that all extend to the ceiling. Some have the tops open with Troikas or Mulchers placed on stands and made into turrets in them. Most of the building are built to the left and to the right is a large field where some grass is growing and livestock is including cows, pigs, and chickens. A few APCs can be seen laying around. The guys smile and keep walking.

"Shit you guys did all of this?" she said looking about.

"Conway as the highest ranking officer gathered all of the people he could, many of which we rescued, that were still in the Hollow during Operation: Hollow Storm and lead them through this tunnel and to safety. We learned that this tunnel was made by the worm when misdirected in an attempt to sink a city so we got in, killed all enemies in the way, and made home. With many people we easily made society and this is one of the largest human settlements of them all. Let alone we got a water source since there is an air pocket. All you gotta do is boil sea water and its just as good." explained Gyules smiling a little. "See, your mother thinks humanity will just lay down, but she must realize humans adapt and thrive." he said smiling. He begins walking with them and she can see how far the tunnel goes as they keep going.

Support beams are placed in the forms of towers and pillars. Once past the meat farm they can see a large glowing fruit farm being maintained by Gears. They keep walking until a single large building can be seen built into the wall jutting out farther than the rest and bearing at the top of it a large clock with the COG symbol on that.. Above the door which is that of an old drop pod it states: "Town Hall." in red paint. The guys walk in and open the doors. They walk a little bit down a hall then enter a three way section continuing to go down the center to a large room. In the center of the room is a map of the region they are in. A few old statues and somewhat destroyed pictures adorn the sides of the room with a large desk at the back of the room. At that desk a squad of five stands before it with Conway behind it. Conway is black with a normal bit of COG armor similar in appearance to that of Dizzy's in the third game without the added bullets He appears to be in his mid forties and bearing a clean-shaven face. His eyes are blue and he has a stern face with hair now grayed and thinning.

"Omega has returned, your supplies have been helpful, but...who is the girl and why does she bear the armour of the vile enemy?" asked Conway. The squad there steps aside and they all look to Gyules.

"We have caught ourselves the Locust princess. Moragna, daughter of Myrrah. Figured we might be able to use her against the Locusts."

"You caught...the Locust Princess. I congratulate and scold you young Klaus. You must realize that she is of no use to us rather than information and you can gather that on her own. She is small, frail, easy to break unless the rest of the Locusts then when no longer of use she must be executed. Myrrah already attacks with full-rage there is nothing more strict she can command her troops without turning them completely Savage." explained Conway as two gears came from behind and quickly pulled Myrrah's arms behind her back beginning to tie her up. Before she can scream a cloth is tied over her mouth and she is blindfolded then shoved off struggling and trying to yell the whole way.

"Was that necessary?" asked Tanner.

"Completely. Now we are to interrogate her, then kill her and we shall be done with her. Your squad will be scolded with cleaning up after the livestock and the plumbing."  
>"Wait why!" shouted Tanner stepping forward.<p>

"You could've been seen, they could be tracing her, you may bring Myrrah herself and risk this entire base! Nothing we can do now since she is here but nonetheless she may bring us the utmost trouble and the end of our way of life! This is one of the most prosperous places in all of Sera and I wish for it stay that way. Do I make myself clear?"

"No you do not for you are wrong. I know these creatures sir, the Locusts do not have the technology nor bother with it to track her. The most they have had were their computers in Nexus which were of Tyran origin and built into Locust ways. Hell if anything they would not track us for instead they would attack our group as is, rescue her and leave. This isn't the Pendulum Wars." explained Tanner.

"We do not know this Youkahainen."

"Oh but I do, the only time the Locusts truly fought in such a strategic way was under RAAM and he is dead. Since Skorge had taken charge they just kill everything that even looks human."

"If you can explain more on this to me then you guys will be free from punishment, Gamma and Omega squads, leave for now. I'll get to you both after this chat." said Conway. The squads exist and a girl walks up to Gyules.

"So...Klause-"

"Its Gyules."

"Whatever, how did you get that girl there? I bet it had to be tough." she said in a flirty voice.

"I am not dating you..." said Gyules knowing this. Aiden sits down on a bench outside of the building.

"We found a Locust cart pulled by a teenage Corpser and inside there she was. There were many Locusts there within it guarding on foot."

"How many now were there?" asked the girl tapping her foot. Before he can say Osman speaks up remembering.

"Several Palace Guards and Therons, a beast rider driving the cart, two Grinders, and an armored Kantus." said Osman "A bit heavy of a force for the size of the cart, but we took it out." She whistles. "Damn they don't have many Grinders to waste out there anymore."

"No they have plenty, just many went savage and took their guns with. The Locusts easily train any Boomer into a Grinder as a sort of upgrade." explained Aiden "Many old COG bases have Mulchers. "We even once found in one of those a Hammer of Dawn command center. Almost worked but once we used it the laser landed elsewhere and destroyed much of the base. Luckily we escaped with the goods."

"Damn." she said and smiled a little. "What are you gonna do next Gyules?"

"I am gonna go save Mora. Tanner will probably not be able to convince them of shit, Conway's head is too thick." Just as he says that Conway walks out with Tanner revealing his height to be equal of Gyules.

"Well sir I must say you create real evidence on why to keep her alive. You guys can go pick her up." said Conway and handed Gyules a special bracelet with a red light.

"Keep this on her though. If she begins to do anything drastic, you can explode her, if she wanders too far she explodes, and if you die Gyules she'll die." said Conway as he took a bracelet version of the device and put it on Gyules in which a blue light instantly showed on it.

"Why does everything turn blue or red depending on who has it?" he asked.

"I dunno, I never understood it either. Seems like everything is red except in the hand of the COG really." said the girl.

"Indeed. Well I am off to go get her then." said Gyules as he ran off knowing where the interrogation place was. They rarely had use for it but it was there just to be there. Gyules ran through to the place going through many halls and rooms through the makeshift building. He would go up two flights of stairs and then through a hallway glass could be seen showing the interrogation. A gear sat at the end of the table in normal armour without a helmet revealing a clean shaven face and a bald head. He was writing things down as standing beside him was another gear appearing similar as they were twins. Mora sat at the end bound to a chair. She was stripped nude which forced blush on Gyules' face, seemed to bear a few new bruises, and was bound with chain.

"Now must I shove this tazer up this cunt, OR ARE YOU GONNA TELL ME WHERE MYRRAH IS!" screamed the twin sitting down now holding a tazer that is fully charged.

"FOR THE LAST TIME YOU FUCKING HUMAN! I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE MY MOTHER IS! I don't keep track of her she is constantly moving on her Tempest."  
>"And what the hell is a Tempest for the last time?" She rolls her eyes and looks annoyed.<p>

"I must explain again!" He begins to stand up but the twin standing makes him sit down and walks over to her.

"Now now now, you don't need to be so harsh, you just need to give this tad bit of info and you can go. Plain and simple. If you don't tell us then this will drag on. What do you say, hmm?" he said in a soft and caring tone. Mora spits at him.

"Fuck you human, and just to inform you, the Tempest is one thing that you guys cannot defeat. The Tempest is an extremely rare form of Beatle mother breed herself which cannot be killed by any bullets. It can create pure light with a special technique that instantly cooks a human perfectly. Really perfectly, can't wait till she comes and roasts you guys. I am gonna see if I can eat you two." she said smiling. The mean twin stands up and is about to walk over to shove the tazer in a place where it shouldn't be shoved when Gyules enters through the door in, after picking the lock during Mora's little speech.

"Hey, Conway said she is free to go." said Gyules.

"WHAT! NO! We can still get more info."

"If the girl says she doesn't know she doesn't know. We can leak her for any info gradually rather than make her suffer over the extreme emotions each of you seem to always express."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" screamed the mean one as the other one tries to calm him down. Gyules rolls his eyes as he walks over and unties Mora. "Still got your armour or need clothing?"

"Umm...no they ripped it off and ruined it." she said. He sighs and then puts on the explosive bracelet for her. She looks at it a little and shakes it, then tries to get it off.

"Whats this?"

"This is the one condition I must apply beforehand. If you get too far or if I die you die. If you try to take it off you die also. Don't complain on this because its either this, death, or we tie you up and pull you everywhere on a leash around the place for interrogation and torture."

"Well I am glad at least a few humans like yourself have actual sense. If it only had the Locust symbol it could almost pass as fashionable." she said looking it over and moving her hand a bit.

"Now do you need clothing or gonna go nude..."

"Yes, go fetch me something to wear. Hopefully you can act as my errand boy." she said and giggled a little "A human slave, its like when we were capturing them all over again. I loved that!" Gyules looks annoyed.

"First things first, I don't get why you think I am your slave, I will get something and be nice for you but I am not your slave and you'll need to do shit on your own. Second off, if you call me slave one more time I will fucking cut you with my Lancer till you bleed out every last drop of blood! And third, don't look down on us because we are humans, if anything considering how terrible your tactics have gone I believe the humans are superior right now."

"Now that is a lie, the Locust Horde is powerful as ever!"

"And refuses to hide therefore getting slaughtered by the Lambent and rather than try to negotiate any peace or to work together they chose more violence." said Gyules "Now c'mon." He begins to walk off. "Wait here." Gyules walks off then returns with a simple black tanktop, jeans, and underwear in a few minutes. "Here stole these from some girl's room." He tosses the clothing at her.

"EW USED CLOTHING! I dema-"

"Deal with it or I go get the tazer twin." She quickly begins to get dressed afraid of that.

"Happy to see me nude?" she teased as she got dressed.

"I have seen a nude girl before I am fine with the sight. You are nothing special."

"Right..." she said and then got completely dressed. They begin to walk out to meet the squads out there.

"So you are Mora, daughter of Myrrah." said the girl.

"And you are?" she said.

"She is Gyules' lover." said Tanner.

"SHUT UP YOUKAHAINEN!" shouted Gyules punching him.

"Not this shit again!" he complained. Mora looks confused and Aiden begins to explain. "This is Isis, she has a crush on Gyules and often times is trying to win him over. We like to tease him over it since he swore he'd never date her. Gyules rather finds her repulsive."  
>"Someday I'll win him or die trying." said Isis winking at him.<p>

"More than likely die trying because the Locusts will probably kill ya by then." said Osman "I think Gyules turned gay after the death of his last girlfriend."

"You mean Anna? I enjoyed her company but she was kind of voted at the academy most likely to get shot beating the guy who originally had that vote Anthony Carmine."

"But ironically she wasn't shot she was hit with a scorcher then had it shoved in her gut and turned on."

"SHUT UP!" shouted Gyules.

"K different subject, if Myrrah is your mother, who is your father?" Isis asked Mora.

"Oh my dad is RAAM." she said. Everyone there looks surprised and begins to look at her oddly. Tanner and Osman are sizing her up.

"Stunted genetics?"

"Stunted genetics."  
>"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!" she shouted at them.<p>

"You are tiny." said Aiden "RAAM was 9 feet tall, flipped cars with ease, broke through walls with ease, and couldn't even be cut with a lancer."

"So, I know he is my dad, Mom told me and he frickin raised me."

"Is this gonna go into a flashback, or at least someone who would be reading this would see the flashback as you explain a bit just for that said possible reader and then they know and we somehow know also but didn't even see it?" asked Tanner. Gyules hits him in the back of the head.

"Don't break the fourth wall and thanks to you this is to occur."

"Damn."

"If I must...well I remember having this told to me a lot of how the locusts reacted with my birth and mum's pregnancy." FLASHBACK!

Currently its twenty four years ago and Myrrah has been exciting the Locusts with news of her to be born. The Locusts have been fighting even harder against the Lambent. Myrrah is about to come with Mora three days old and she is carrying her walking over to a place specified on the palace for public announcements. Standing up on there to her right is General RAAM and her left is Skorge. Skorge seems to be glaring at RAAM as stands there with his hands behind his back and his massive knife sheathed. The streets of Nexus are swamped with Locusts and the occasional Berserker standing out of the crowd.

"Locusts, I present to you, your princess!" she announced holding young Mora up, already bearing big blue eyes and a bit of white hair. She merely looks to the crowd as the Locusts cheer and roar. The Therons stand in special spots and fire off mini rockets that act like fire works. Each one explodes in either Red, Gray, or Black. Myrrah is smiling as she watches them cheer for her. "When my reign is to end, if it will, she is to take over and be your Queen." The Locusts begin to shout chants about Myrrah never dying and that she is a goddess. She walks back in holding little Mora and then RAAM and Skorge follow. She hands Mora to RAAM.

"I have work to do, RAAM, she is your child. Tend to her, you can drink with your friends but make sure nothing bad happens to Moragna." RAAM holds Mora in one hand and as Myrrah leaves Skorge hisses at him. RAAM wraps his hand around Skorge's throat and slams him into a wall growling at him. Skorge looks frightened and begins trying to pry him off.

"QUIT FIGHTING YOU TWO! You are allies!" screamed Myrrah throwing a boot at them from the other room. RAAM drops him and Skorge growls a bit at him then walks off clutching his staff tightly.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" shouted Tanner interrupting the flashback "What the hell was that? RAAM just randomly tried to kill him, I knew he was brutal but not that brutal!"

"No no no! RAAM and Skorge were always fighting. RAAM despised Skorge for he didn't fight for the horde rather for the pride and glory in which he even cheated his way to High Kantus and spent his entire life trying to gain the position of High Kantus and General."

"So the Locust Pope was selfish, carry on." The flashback continues. RAAM is walking out of the palace still holding Mora. Celebrations and a festival is going on outside of the palace where drones are drinking a special drink of theirs which can create the equivalency of getting drunk for a human, but is only drunken within their cities and rarely a few outposts. Many of the drones are drinking while the Theron guards remain are on watch to help in case anything goes wrong or someone is harmed. RAAM points up and the Kryll begin to flow swirling in the sky forming amazing shapes and tricks, even spelling out a few things in the Locust written language at times as he keeps walking. RAAM keeps walking until he encounters a group of eight Onyx Therons, his self appointed Onyx Therons.

The group approaches him and sees little Mora in his hands. They laugh a bit seeing he is on father duty and RAAM growls at them. They all stop and begin to walk off going through the streets. They see a few Berserkers are getting chained to an area for breeding. One of the guards points over wandering if any want in. RAAM merely holds up little Mora as she is playing with him fingers. She begins trying to wiggle one and moves it back and forth. The Therons shrug and keep walking heading over a bridge and into the special Theron barracks entering the main room which bears two large grand stone staircases leading up to a second story, but with hallways to the sides leading different ways and an entrance to a bar north. The Locust symbol is on the center of the visible second story being just above the center entrance. The Locusts walk to the bar where RAAM places her on the bar. She begins to look around curious about the world around her as RAAM merely is about to order a drink sitting down on a chair made smaller specifically for him when shouts can be heard and gunfire. He instantly gets up and a siren goes off...Lambent attack. A partially wounded Drone runs in.

"THE TUNNELS!" He shouts and now RAAM's squad is quickly running to it. RAAM grabbing Mora and unsure what to do with her. Before he can decide a few Lambent run in and the drone fires at them. He fires a few shots killing one but then a Lambent grabs a Lambent Wrench and tosses it causing it to maul that drone. An Onyx Theron shoots it and RAAM quickly, hands Mora to an Onyx Theron who is holding onto her trying to manage to get out. RAAM charges out and stabs his knife into a Lambent drone and then grabs another and throws him into a wall. He turns to see a Lambent Berserker charging and quickly takes stance. The Berserker charges and RAAM has his hands out and she keeps trying to charge at him but he manages to hold back the Berserker unharmed. She growls and then stops charging and punches him sending him far off. He quickly gets up and she runs at him again. RAAM draws his knife and side steps swinging as done so cutting off the end of a tentacle. She roars in pain and he slams his knife into her back. It stabs barely with enough force but doesn't do as much damage as hoped for and she bashes him back. He hits a corner and she tries to charge at him, only at the last minute for him to stab the knife through her throat. He charges off quickly growing fine after those massively painful hits. Mora watched amazed and could see as she was rushed away RAAM commanding his Kryll which begin to go through the tunnels the Lambent dug killing everything in the tunnels. The Kryll begin digging through every Lambent tunnel and then begin to keep going as the Lambent are quickly defeated and sent fleeing. They begin blocking the tunnels as the Locusts begin working on cutting off that area. RAAM begins to walk forward and Mora is handed to him. He bends his arm and lets her lay in the nook of it as she begins to fall asleep. RAAM smiles a little and begins walking off with her. The Locusts cheer for RAAM as Mora listens to it all and smiles a little. RAAM merely walks off silently back to Nexus as the Locusts begin to cut off the tunnels. Flashback over. The group is driving a car to the bunkers which are at the front of the tunnels.

"So he took on a Lambent Berseker on his own...damn he is tough..."

"Well the Lambent were weaker then." she said.

"Oh..." they all say. Gun fire can suddenly be heard and some explosives.

"SHIT STRANDED WANT OUR ASSES!" shouted the gatekeeper and got sniped. His Hammerburst falls and she runs and grabs it. Mora quickly runs up the wall and sees a bunch of Stranded coming. She fires several shots at one Stranded blowing out his brains and then to another and gets behind cover.

"I hope they have an original hammerburst." she muttered and then pulled off of the dead gear's corpse a Boltok. "Sweet!" she said and then checked and it was a full clip. She took some ammo off of the guy's body and laid it out.

"Anyone gonna help?" she shouted and then got out of cover and began to look down the sight and got up quickly shooting at another Stranded hiding behind a rock and kills her.

"BRING IT IN!" shouted the Stranded. An old Centaur begins to come up the hill as the guys trying to bang on the door run back and get behind it. Its a junker but appears operational. Aiden is quickly rushing out from the gate jumping over it and then the rest of the squad follows, Tanner last and handing Mora ink grenades. "You'll probably want these." he said. She thanks him and the squad takes out as a member of Gamma squad takes a sniper rifle and the moment a Stranded pokes his head out to try and shoot his brains are blown out.

"Mora, take out the tank with the grenades, let us handle the Stranded!" said Gyules as the Stranded began to come from the mountain path now open and he was gunning them down as they came. One runs up and swings his Retro Lancer at Gyules only to have it grabbed, held up, and then he stabs the guy with his own. Mora begins to climb up as Aiden is on there blocking the lense and due to bearing limited shells doesn't know when to fire. Tanner is defending him with dual Gorgon pistols. Mora gets on top of it and then begins to pry open the hatch. She falls back and then grabs a retro lancer of a dead soldier and begins to use the bayonet of that as a crowbar. She barely gets it open a bit to throw the ink grenade in. They can hear the guys choking inside and one pries open the hatch holding out an original, Hammerburst. Mora's eyes light up and she quickly shoots him and catches the gun before he drops it. The Stranded begin to retreat and as they do Mora begins to use the Hammerburst firing its six round burst killing three guys before reloading.

"God I love my Hammerburst, dunno why we had the new model ever made." she said reloading.

"Well now we got us another centaur..." said Osman "I'll help fix it up and make it in better condition and make us more ammo."

"Why do we even keep those?" asked Tanner. Aiden is sitting on the side of it and has a few bits of bone from several corpses. He shakes them in his fist and rolls them, then examines then.

"The bones tell...we may be needing whatever we can get soon." he said "Great battles are to occur and a menace still stands who was once vanquished." It goes silent then Tanner breaks the silence.

"You are psychotic." Aiden shakes his head. "You will see."

"Hopefully its not who I think it will be." Gyules snatches the guns from her.

"HEY THOSE ARE MINE!" He shakes his head.

"We can't trust you with guns, if necessary I will keep these stored and safe, but I will not allow you to have guns unless Lambent or more Stranded arrive, but I doubt without the Centaur those stupid Stranded from the tunnel will come." said Gyules.

"Fine! BE THAT WAY! No one ever lets me fight." She begins to stomp out and Gyules follows. Nightfall is beginning to come and they head to their bunk.

"I am hitting the hay early." said Osman as he went into their room. Delta's room is basically a few lockers and several naval coats they sleep on. There are only four of them.

"Wait where do I sleep?" asked Mora.

"In the locker." said Tanner.

"Agreed" said Osman.

"She takes your bunk Tanner for tonight. Tomorrow I'll arrange something." Tanner growls and gets off then Mora smiles and gets in.

"I save your ass many times and you value the girl with the plump ass." muttered Tanner. Gyules ignores him and then gets on his bed and they all go to bed.

The End


	5. Chapter 5 Skorge

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Chapter 5: Skorge

Currently, its been some time since the Stranded attack and since then they have tried meager little raids but all have ended terribly. Absolutely no casualties on the COG side from them, except they ended recently and Omega squad has been assigned to go check in case they are planning something. Conway thinks its better to be safe than sorry in case they do have something big they are prepping. Currently they are walking down the rocky path that had been exposed from the landslide.

"To think a little Ticker caused this! Imagine what a Drudge could cause." said Osman.

"No, see this only occurred because the rock there was weak as is all thanks to their tunneling. Once the ticker blew up, it sent rocks out of the way which lead to more and more until this part of the mountain was opened. Any explosion or removal of the right rock would've done so." explained Tanner.

"K then..." They begin to see the entrance to the old tunnel which shows signs of rocks that had to be moved to get out. Tanner begins to look through his scope down at it as they all get down.

"Lets see...I see blood at the rocks which means conflict. So someone probably harmed them greatly or killed them all." said tanner

"And my sister more than likely started it and yet ran off...like she always would..." said Osman. Tanner can see some boots walking.

"Possibly Locusts."

"Locusts?" said Mora. She has an evil grin and then Gyules holds up his Lancer.

"You shout to them for help the first person who'll be shot will be you. Besides the Locusts can't undo the collar anyways." She crosses her arms and makes a pouty face. A Locust drone walks into view. She smiles and then it spots them. Tanner blows the Locusts's head off.

"Shit now they are after us!"

"Run or kill?" asked Osman. Three Locusts can be seen rushing to the door and a Boomshot grenade hits them exploding the Drones to pieces.

"Let us fight. If we run they will attack our home." said Aiden standing up and reloading his boomshot. They all begin to Roadie Run and can spy at least seven Locusts in the room. Omega squad quickly, while they have the element of surprise, fire and kill the Locusts, then get under cover. Mora begins to try and peer out to see if she can spy a commander. She sees one of Skorge's Onyx Kantus priests in which the only difference between them and a normal Kantus is that they bear dual gorgon pistols, their robes are black and have a chest plate with the Trinity of Worms in the center of it, and they bear a headress like Skorge's except none of the cloth with rings hanging out. It spots her and begins to scream.

"K this is really really weird!" she said getting below cover. The guys cover their ears from the screech and she is practically immune.

"How is it weird?"

"They got one of Skorge's Onyx Kantus Priests! All of those were forced to become Kantus Knights in Onyx armour ironically. These were just his knockoff of RAAM's Onyx Therons, but of course now she issued that title to many Kantus but she still did it to all of the Onyx Kantus priests and-"

"HEY! Quiet...okay they have an Onyx Kantus without armour. Makes it easier to kill." said Gyules "We will figure out why if it pleases you, okay?"

"Fine..." A Grenadier Elite tries to charge them and Osman blows it away with his Gnasher. He pulls out his Lancer and as a Locust gets up to fire his hammerbust only to be shot and killed, then the one next to him that comes out gets the same.

"Lovely. Now we need some better cover so we can all fire. An ink grenade is thrown in."

"NEW COVER NOW!" shouted Gyules as they all run out of there and into the old train station. They group avoids fires of the Gorgon pistol Tanner taking a few bullets and they get behind an old stand. Gyules trips over the cover as the rest get over fine and falls face to face with a rotting corpse.

"Ew." he said.

"Son of a bitch!" said Tanner as he dug the bullets out of his armour. Luckily they barely hit his skin and most just grazed. He begins to dig those out as the Kantus screams more.

"Oh gimme that!" she said taking Aiden's Hammerburst as the rest suffered from the scream and she shoots it in the mouth killing it.

"FUCK YOU!" screamed Mora. Several Locusts pop out of cover from behind the stands and she gets into cover handing the gun to Aiden.

"I hate Kantuses. Always striving for more and more power. They weren't even supposed to be in the army you know! They just would talk worms out of their tunnels, then a butcher would kill them and thats how we got food."

"Well they are sort of efficient." said Osman as a Cyclop came out of cover and he shot its helmet off with a snub pistol. It lowers its head gripping it in pain and he fires again blowing its off.

"Eh whatever, Gyules may I fight?' she said turning to where Gyules was only to see he was gone. To their left they all could see he had charged a Locust and stabbed it on his Retro Lancer. He throws the corpse onto one next to it and fires through the corpse into the Locust killing it. The guys quickly rush to him as he tosses a grenade into a building across from them. The explosion causes it to be destroyed it and it falls over onto the stand two Locusts were hiding behind. They hear something explode on the ceiling and Locusts begin to retreat.

"Why are they running?" asked Osman.

"No idea." said Mora.

"I know why something big is coming!" said Gyules. A large piece of the ceiling collapses exposing a Reaver coming in. Except on the Reaver is an Onyx Kantus and Skorge himself in his original armour. He begins to yell and then notices Mora. Omega squad hides within a building and peer out to see it. Mora quickly snatches Aiden's Hammerburst and Gyules' Boltok then jumps through the window.

"SKORGE YOU FUCKER!" she screamed.

"Ah shit!" said Gyules. Skorge begins to shout and that makes Omega squad hit the ground in pain as his scream is nearly deafening without even being near. She jumps onto the Reaver and blows out the brains of the Onyx Kantus only to be picked up by Skorge who now stands as tall as he is and is holding her by her throat. Just as RAAM did to him. There is an evil look in his eyes as Mora pulls out the Boltok and begins to fire at him. The shots hit his headress off and do not appear to harm him much. He pulls out his Chainsaw staff (Which is taped back together). Before he can use it on her he is shot from the side as Gyules is standingup.

"Hey, I thought you died. No? Well lets make that thought true." he said. Skorge throws Mora aside pretty hard and begins to walk up to Gyules. Gyules readies his chainsaw and then runs at him. Skorge runs and they clash chainsaws.

"GUYS GET TO MORA! I GOT A PLAN!" He shouted as he kept fighting him off. He begins to get overpowered but then smiles. He moves the chainsaw a little and then presses the trigger firing into the face of Skorge and shooting his left eye out. Skorge screams in pain and Mora is passed out. Once the scream is over Gyules kicks him in the gut to push him back a bit.

"Open fire into the red spot of this...I believe retarded Reaver!" he said as the Reaver merely sat there and did nothing. They fire and it screeches and dies falling onto Skorge, then explodes and the guys begin to run out as Skorge's Locusts begin to come. They fire at them as they begin to flee and several normal Kantuses rush to Skorge's aid. Skorge looks angry as they keep going and Mora is harmed. A Grenadier Elite runs after them and begins to catch up to Tanner. Tanner grabs his Gnasher and knees the Locust in the crotch. He yells in pain and Tanner spies something on the belt going up his body. He snatches it and shoots him with his own shotgun. Also snatching his grenades.

"Hurry up Mr. Snippy or you get left behind!" said Gyules as Omega waits at the point between the mountain tunnel and the station. Tanner rushes up and a bolo (Frag) grenade on the entrance to the subway tunnel. A Locust runs up and activates the grenade causing it to explode and collapse the entrance.

"So any reason you think Skorge's zombie ass is above the ground?" asked Osman hoping to move the subject of wrecking the mountain more.

"It was reported his Hydra was killed, technically he was never killed therefore must've survived the crash.!" said Gyules as they ran from the bullets coming out from the smoke. They quickly jumps off of the path and ran beneath some rocks trying to hide from the Locusts.

"How is Mora?" Gyules asked Aiden who carried her.

"She is breathing still, but has some minor back injury and bruises around her throat from having it held so hard. She should survive." said Aiden.

"If she doesn't she always makes a good landmine." said Tanner. "Leave her behind, run like hell, once out of range and as they look at her body, boom!"

"The explosion isn't that big you idiot and we wouldn't do that!" said Gyules "Besides I believe her and us have a common enemy now...so we may have a new member of Omega." Aiden gets out of cover and then climb over the rock they were under and onto the path. He tags his first grenade on the wall and then walks a bit forward and places the second, then hurries to the spot.

"If they decide to come, the grenades will explode, it may damage the environment more, which saddens me, but it saves our lives and the greater good. If we can work with Mora properly, then we may have a chance at killing this threat and preventing the death of more warriors." said Aiden.

"Good thinking, now lets rush forward." They all begin to head home and once they arrive at the base Mora begins to get medical aid.

"I assume I am also the only one considering how many fuckin bullets that guy took! WE SHOT HIM IN THE HEAD KIND OF A BIT! Most things die instantly to bullets."

"I know its a lot but he is a bit of a Locust big shot. He has to be able to survive some things if he was to rise to that position. Except we at least got his eye." said Gyules and held up Skorge's eye he shot out.

"Ew you kept that?" said Osman.

"Wonderful trophy of our almost victory." remarked Aiden.

"Well for now lets get out of here and warn the base of nearby Locusts." commanded Gyules "Lets get going Omega." The group gets up and Aiden hands Mora to Gyules. They begin climbing their way home and after a while return and get Mora to their clinic of whom would awaken a few minutes later proving to be a bit of a fast healer.

"How far did we travel in that tunnel? It feels like that place was so close last time and no forever away." said Tanner.

"Its because your mind was elsewhere probably as we tunneled and made you not keep track of time." explained Aiden.

"Ah...K then..." said Tanner. Mora is in a bit of a daze and looks over to them.

"Did you kill Skorge?" she asked.

"Got his eye, but no." said Gyules.

"WHAT!" she screamed getting up and her small hands wrapped around Gyules' throat.

"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T KILL YOU KILL HIM!"

"Calm down, don't strain yourself. You got some minor bleeding in your back and are lucky vertebrae weren't smashed!" said Tanner about to pry her hands off but realized they were harming Gyules much.

"Skorge cannot live, HE CANNOT! He is a fuckin murderer, a blood thirsty Kantus who doesn't even believe in our religion and wants power. He wants the fuckin throne and if I had not allowed Delta to stop him he would've killed mother and taken the throne by force."

"Whoa unexpected. Care to explain more and try to convince us why thats a bad things for us humans?" asked Osman.

"You humans, you stupid humans just aren't smart enough to get it." she said with rage in her pale blue eyes.

"Locusts need humans and humans need Locusts. If Skorge is in charge, he will continue sending the Locusts on suicide runs as he did before and run the Locusts into the ground. They will separate, go Savage, and the population of both Locusts and humans will decrease and the Lambent would kill us while both sides are weak. Fighting will still occur, but the Lambent need to die before the war can end. Mother is in contact with a man working on that. Skorge would have this man killed as well."

"You have passionate hatred but I doubt he would get the Locusts to fight within themsevles." said Tanner.

"Idiot there was fightin the moment he got in charge. He had my dad assassinated rigging that train with the Lightmass bomb so he would become the next general of the Locust army, then he commanded it with suicide runs on the humans and the Lambent gained even more land under him as he couldn't come up with techniques to stop them and they just kept winning. He did damage to you humans but at the cost of many more Locusts than it should've."

"I think I have heard enough." said Conway walking in from the hallway. "The girl is small but has a large voice. I could hear her as I entered and heard your report of Locusts. You mentioned Skorge coming into play."

"Yes and I highly recommend for the survival of us both that you send one of your vehicles to go kill Skorge. Some infantry and a centaur commanded by the right people."

"Now I said I heard enough, you explain this in a rather disorganized fashion and that disgusted me. Why do you believe I should risk our safety to go kill Skorge?"

"Skorge is a crafty general who seeks to kill my mother. If mother dies then he will take charge, and send the Locusts on constant searches for humans. Mother isn't completely searching for humans but rather being wise and trying to take one certain stronghold not even I know of."

"Well I have no intel on this either for I am still keeping up to date with every COG base I can." said Conway.

"Either way we need to keep the Locusts alive if you plan to live. Together we have to fight and defend the Lambent as that stronghold develops a way and destroys the Lambent. With them gone then we can duke it out. If Skorge Is allowed to live he will ruin that chance for the Locusts, harm the humans badly, and the Lambent will kill every being on the planet!" she explained.

"I see I see, but I do not see that Skorge would attack your mother so I doubt I should go out and risk out necks."

"Oh he would. He had the bridge blown up on the Tyro Pillar so my father would die even if he defeated the Gears on the pillar the train would crash. The train was to end a bit farther ahead where it'd be launched and hit the inner hollow, but apparently that spot worked well also. I even heard of him conspiring of it and he tried to have me killed."

"I am sorry you have past hatreds for him and believe in this but I merely will not risk it. You had a chance but you lost me. Now goodbye." said Conway as he turned around and began to walk out. She tried to take a gun off of Gyules then a bullet grazes her cheek and Conway is turned around.

"You try to harm me again then the next bullet goes in your arm and you will receive massive interrogation and once the information is handed over you shall be tortured till death. Your life is not needed Locust girly." She looked annoyed and Conway left.

"Well, now I am stuck on what to do." said Tanner.

"You kill that human and do as I say." commanded Mora.

"Yeah...no pale one."

"I will work out something to battle Skorge, for now go relax Omega."

The End


	6. Chapter 6 Planning

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Chapter 6: Planning.

After Mora had healed and they were sure Skorge had moved out of their area as evidence was planted of them going elsewhere. Currently they are discussing with Mora a plan to defeat Skorge within a garage. It is night time on Sera around midnight and their summer is dying and winter will be coming soon.

"So do any of you have any ideas on how to defeat Skorge?" asked Gyules.

"Oooh ooh I have an idea!" said Tanner raising his hand like an eager student.

"I call it, a gun! You point it at people you don't like, pull the trigger and they go away."

"I like his idea." said Osman "But lets use explosives instead."  
>"No we need an army. Skorge is only going to fight if its the last resort of his forces. As tough as you are and capable of taking shots, I do believe you cannot take on his forces. They are all martyrs and will all pile in to fight to the end. He had all of the new Locust recruits when father died become martyrs. Though I do believe you all witnessed their suicidal attacks."<p>

"Of course"

"We merely need some help. If we can't get your humans I at least now of a group of Locust Marauders and we can hopefully with their numbers we can convince them." said Mora.

"Sure we can get humans and Locusts to work together? We only got you working with us because you are our hostage." said Gyules.

"Marauders lack organization and havbe much infighting, mother turned much of their groups into her armies but I am sure I can convince these guys to be loyal to me. After that then we shall fight, then I shall use them to escape and we can both be free." said Mora.

"Right...like you still wanna escape." Tanner stated now sitting on top of the hood of a car polishing his sniper rifle.

"What on earth could you mean by such a thing?" asked Mora.

"You are starting to like it here with us. Considering even as a prisoner we still give you fuckin benefits and treat you like a new addition to our little family." said Tanner. She facepalms then smiles. She points to Tanner and a Wretch cry can be heard and virtually out of nowhere Wretches come and begin to attack and claw at Tanner. He yells to get them off of him until Mora stops pointing and they leave. Tanner's face and armour now has tons of little scratch marks. The rest of Omega squad laughs at his misery. Mora sits on the hood of a car and the original wretch, Tai, jumps onto her lap and begins to cuddle up against her. She pets the Wretch a bit.

"I am going to leave when I can. Even if I didn't want to, its the order of things. I am Locust and you are human, we are enemies and thats how it works. One of us is going to kill the other one the Lambent are dead, but for now we must focus on the common enemy after Skorge is dead. The Lambent are almost stronger than both sides of the war currently."

"The lambent just have numbers truly, in actual combat they prove ineffective though unless a Gunker or Wretches are involved." said Gyules.

"Let us stop discussing and get going." said Osman getting up "I feel like kicking some ass."

"Then let us do so." he said. Mora removes a hoodie she is wearing and places it on the hood of the car shaping it so that a Wretch could sleep it in and places Tai in there. They begin to walk out of the garage and walk to the gates.

"Hey Freddie, be sure to tell our story." said Osman to the gatekeeper. He opens the gates.

"You are investigating an old city, that it?"

"Yup."

"Oh good, cya guys. Hope this doesn't fuck us over!" They begin to sneak out into the night.

"Where are these guys?" asked Gyules.

"In the town you once called Port Hammond, those Locusts are trying to build an a new Locust society." explained Mora.

"How do you have all of this info?" asked Tanner.

"I always have warriors or as you dub them, 'drones' who update me on what is going on. Mother says I have be informed and know exactly what is going on everywhere in your territory if you are to be a good queen."

"Yet it seems you spent more time with RAAM."

"I went with him to the battlefield and I constantly was sneaking to his outposts and lying my way through." They approach to the edge of the mountain and begin to scale down slowly.

"We should probably find us a vehicle and use that." said Gyules.

"That might be tough, most vehicles have been used as bombs during fights and therefore, have exploded." said Osman.

"Their explosions hardly do shit anyways. I much prefer to just shoot them!" said Tanner. They begin to travel in silence after this, climbing down the mountain until they get to a road with some cars on it. They begin to climb over them and towards the woods where some dead stalks can be seen over the tree line.

"Expect for a possibility of Lambent in the area Omega." said Gyules "Fenix probably won't save our ass this time." They begin going down the side of the road to the forest, Mora appears angry at the very mentioning of the name.

"You mean Marcus Fenix?" she asked.

"Yeah, saved our squad when we landed back when we had helmets. Aiden wasn't there for it and Osman was wounded the entire time, but Tanner and I fought alongside him and Dom."

"I desire to kill that man the moment I get a chance! He helped cause the end of my father and has done much harm to my species! More than any of you idiots could ever do."

"Sorry we aren't war heroes or famous, but we have killed enough Locusts to be considered harmful." said Osman "Besides when we found you, you acted like a child. Now you are all warrior princess? What happened?"

"I decided to act more grown up because I am on the field."

"Hey guys!" shouted Tanner looking through a pair of binoculars "There is a possible single Gunker with some conflict going on. I saw an imulsion blob fly through the trees. If we are lucky those are dead gears with a vehicle intact."

"Either way we are going to see what is going on there." They begin to head towards where the gunk was with Tanner leading the way. The group climbs down the rest of the mountain as they begin to head towards the violence. The group begins to climb over stone and sandbags set up for firefights of long ago. They keep climbing over and then spot a few Lambent. Four drones and a Grudge walking about about thirty meters away not noticing them.

"Go for it?" asked Tanner.

"Knock yourself out." said Gyules shrugging. Tanner takes out his Longshot and aims at them. He aims at the third drone and fires blowing out his brains. The others begins to look about and Tanner quickly snipes the other one. The other two get behind cover. Mora and Aiden pull out their Hammerburst V2 and look down the scope as they begin to shoot into the glowing gut of the Drudge. They keep firing as he walks slowly firing, but ends up gripping his stomach from the bullets and explodes. A Lambent drone raises his head and gets sniped by Tanner. The last one comes out to fire only to be met with Lancer and Hammerburst gunfire. None of Omega went into cover.

"That went well!" said Gyules as he begins to walk forward.

"Where there is one there is many." said Mora "Course I never thought I'd be killing Lambent alongside Gears in Gear armour."

"Why do you wear a hoodie with it sometimes though?" asked Osman.

"I get cold..."

"In armour?"

"I have no sleeves and its freezing in that tunnel."

"Pussy." They all smirk a little as they begin to walk off. She puts her Hammerburst V2 back alongside her original Hammerburst and pulls out her Boltok. Pistol aiming it at the back of Osman's head.

"Don't think about it little one." said Aiden taking the pistol from her hands and and putting it back on her belt.

"Fine...but I will kill you all!"

"Do you desire to kill us? Or does Myrrah desire to kill us." said Aiden and began to walk ahead of her.

"...WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" she shouted running up to him. They travel in silence once more on the lookout walking a few meters until they hear the cry of the gunker and all of them get behind trees.

"Shit...I hate these things so much!" whispered Osman.

"Well we gotta kill it or it kills us!" whispered Gyules  
>"Can't we avoid it and hide out here?"<p>

"No, safer to kill it!"

"Oh c'mon!"

"Just shut up shut up shut up!" They remain behind the trees. Tanner quickly moves to behind some rocks and begins to look through his scope.

"Gunker is in firing range."

"Aiden, Osman, throw your frag grenades. Tanner, get out your Torque Bow, and everyone else fire their weapons at it on the count of three." They all get ready and when Gyules finishes his count Aiden throws his grenade. Osman follows and the two throw their second grenade as Mora fires her original Hammerburst and Gyules his Retro Lancer. The Gunker roars and throws a large imulsion blob hitting the trees above Mora, Osman, and Gyules. It begins to burn and melt the trees, some of it leaking below on them. The three quickly rush out and end up in the open firing.

The gunker slams its slice blade at Osman who quickly hits the ground to avoid it.

"Whoa, shit! I HATE THESE THINGS!" he said. The blade keeps going out at him as he rolls away and moves back a bit. "I REALLY REALLY HATE THESE!" A boomshot grenade hits the face of it and the Gunker begins to swell and grow with light. Osman, Gyules, and Mora jump down covering their heads as it explodes. Lambent Drones begin to rush in after the explosion occurred firing as they get into cover. They all get behind the trees. Polyps and a few Lambent Wretches begin to come from the other side. Aiden fires his Boomshot into the group decimating most of the Polyps and Wretches. The other few are killed by Osman as Gyules charged through the bullet spray. A Lambent Drone is running at him firing a Gnasher and he managed to stab it onto his Retro Lancer and then kicks it off jumping to behind a tree further up. He lowers his head from some of the gunfire and then grabs an ink grenade and throws it into the group. It activates and begins to clog the throats of the Lambent rushing out in which he fires at the ones standing and walking out killing two walking and one dies within the cloud.

Osman is firing his snub pistol and gets a head shot on a drone and then is shot at a few times taking a few hammerburst bullets. He quickly sinks behind cover.

"OW! Fuck that shit hurts!" he said just waiting a bit and then being okay and going back to firing.

"Thats why I snipe, therefore unless they got snipers I am always safe!" said Tanner.

"Fuck you!" shouted Osman as he blind fired his weapon. He accidentally shoots Gyules a bit.

"OSMAN! Friendly fire!"

"SORRY!"

"How do you deal with these idiots?" asked Mora moving over by Aiden "I though the average drone was stupid, these humans are unbelievable. Its no wonder we killed a fourth of you guys in a single day."

"These men are intelligent in other ways than expected. It is that they are warriors is how they thrive. Just watch Klaus." said Aiden. Gyules fires a little at one with a Gnasher taunting him and that Lambent begins to run at him. He puts away his weapons and when the Lambent gets near, Gyules grabs his shotgun and punches the Lambent. He tosses the shotgun aside and grabs the Lambent drone. He pulls out his Lancer and places it on the Lambent's shoulder rushing forward firing at them as the Lambent gets shot to shit. When he gets to his desired cover he slams his last ink grenade onto the Lambent and kicks him into the group, then gets behind a tree.  
>"He manipulates the enemy so he may get closer and harm them. He has a lot to prove after all. His father was a bit of a failure." said Aiden.<p>

"How so?"

"His father was a Gear soldier who was prone to getting afraid and was a bit of an idiot. In an attempt to get away from a Berserker that was in a mausoleum he was in, he ran straight to it and was torn to bits alive. His COG Tags were returned, but nonetheless he died a death dubbed stupid and painful."

"Ah, I suspect Gyules will die the same." Aiden shakes his head and just ignores her comments as he grabs his Boomshot and fires it into a Drudge. The Drudge begins to mutate from the shot and its arms and head extend. It picks up Gyules with the arms only for him to shoot off the other arm with his Retro and the rest fire at it. The mutated drudge explodes while Gyules is being held and he hits the ground landing on his arm.

"Ow shit..." he said gripping his arm.

"The head is still alive man!" said Osman. The head begins to snake over to him only for Gyules to pick it up and then squeezes on its throat to fire imulsion at the Lambent. It does nothing and he gets shot a few times so retreats to cover. He throws the head aside and shoots it a bit to make it explode. The Lambent numbers are lowering on this battlefield.

Tanner snipes the last living Lambent in their battle and they all get out of cover.

"How are we doing ammo wise?" asked Gyules.

"Mora and I are set." said Aiden as he digs through their fallen clips and hands the ones that are full to Mora or takes them.

"I got enough." said Osman.

"I am a tad bit low on Longshot ammo and I doubt any of these mofos have that." said Tanner "Going to have to rely on Torque bow or Gorgon ammo."

"K we are good." said Gyules holding his Lancer now.

"Except where are the enemies defeated?" asked Osman.

"I see a corpse." said Tanner walking ahead of them. He walks over through some trees towards a dead Stranded. They walk past it following a few other corpses and towards a road where parked on it is an Assault Derrick with cargo.

"Traders I assume. Many of these trade routes are getting fairly dangerous." said Osman "Someone has to transport this stuff, civilization needs it."

"So humanity thrives more than I thought..." said Mora looking at it.

"Humans always manage to hide and escape so they may fight in the future. They realize that one will defeat more of the enemy if they manage to survive." remarked Aiden as he climbed up the ladder. They all get up there.

"Now do you think the keys were left in there?" asked Tanner "Or must we go on an endless scavenger hunt for keys."

"They are in." said Osman already in the driver's seat. He begins to start it and drive. Tanner checks the turret.

"Out of ammo, FUCK!" he said. Gyules begins to sit back against the side of the driver's seat holding a lighter and a cigarette. He holds it in his mouth and lights it. Gyules smokes it while looking out to the distance. Mora walks over being bored and sits next to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing...just sitting. What is that though?"

"My cigarette I assume. Its tobacco, nicotine, whatever the fuck else they use rolled up in and meant to be smoked."

"May I try?"

"Fuck no."

"Why not!"

"They are dubbed cancer sticks for a reason. I can't be poisoning your precious warrior princess lungs. You'll end up coughing and complaining and I don't wanna deal with your bullshit."

"Who shoved a rockworm up your ass?"

"My attitude if none of you business! Something personal came up, something you'll never relate to so just deal with how I am and I won't fuckin snap your head off! We don't need your alive after all so now is not the time to annoy me."

"Humans, always pissy like that."

"You don't hate humans! Admit it!"

"What!"

"You deal with us and even think of us as friends. You just merely speak the words of your cunt of a mother. You spend more time with daddy RAAM and yet you try so hard to be your mother when you aren't! You have talked to Locusts and seen combat, you know what the war is like other than her words. Now would you please stop trying to show off and act like her and just be who the fuck you are! Myrrah is a bitch and you are too kind to be like that!" ranted Gyules, entering a bit of a rage. His face would grow rather red during this and in an attempt to hide his blush he begins to work on cleaning his Lancer blade.

"Oh, you think I am kind now." she said.

"Don't change the subject!"

"You are starting to like me!" Tanner is tempted to join in, only to have the Lancer aimed at him and he quickly rushes out of sight. Aiden merely observes as Osman snickers from within the driver's seat.

"You like me! You want to ki-"

"Kill you. I want to kill you right now and I believe I am going to." he said standing up. She just sits there with a smile but a little afraid.

"Come on stand up." he said. She reluctantly after a long pause stands up. Gyules turns on his chainsaw and begins to lower it at her. He looks over her deciding where to cut and raises his chainsaw above her. She yelps and hits him with her gun making him lower his chainsaw. Gyules hits her upside the head and slams her into the side of the driver's seat and holds the Lancer with its Chainsaw bayonet up about to hit her. She is shivering and looks afraid.

"Please don't do this! I don't want to die!"

"I don't want to deal with anymore shit!" The chainsaw is lunged at her and she closes her eyes, a few tears running down her face. After a few seconds she opens one eye to see the Lancer being held in Aiden's hand.

"KLAUS!" he had yelled at him growing serious.

"Aiden, give me back my gun and let me kill her!"

"It is not wise to do so! She may be a species of the enemy, but she is not evil of heart and you know this. You merely wish to kill her because you have closed off your emotions and she is trying to let you express this. You must get over that part of you if you are to truly lead us to victory rather than small skirmishes."

"I don't want to show off my emotions to her because she is a fucking creature! For pete's sake her father is a nine foot monster and her mother is a human who thinks she is a lizard beast! I don't even know how that'd work in bed...isn't he too big of a creature. Our prisoner is a monstrosity."

"You were the one who wanted to keep her alive in the first place."

"I believe she'd be of us or I at least believed her innocent, but now I find her annoying. She proves to be of little use, hardly knows any real Locust battle information, and ultimately proves to be a waste of resources."

"Quit making excuses! She may not like it but she has become a member of Omega until she can escape it. Rather than continue arguing with you I will test you." Aiden hands him his Lancer. "Show me whether you are a warrior or you are a man breaking, choose to kill her or let her live."

"Do I get a say?"

"No!" shouted Gyules raising his Lancer above her. She hit the wall looking afraid wanting to take out her weapons, but was merely frozen in fear. This human...one of the few she could say she actually cared a bit about...almost in a way of friendship was desiring to kill her. Out of merely 'annoying him' over much time. She began to sob a little as she looked into his eyes. His black eyes were filled much rage and hate, but rather than the rage or hate, all Mora could see was sorrow. A small tear running down his face and signs of a man beginning to break. A man who wanted to rest without fear of an attack, without fear of dying, and worse of all, the fear of his peers dying.

The chainsaw was raised a bit for a few seconds, but then he lowered it and just sighed.

"I will keep you around till you are dead. The gunfire will be useful and I know you can't betray us. If I die you die and you are obviously afraid."

"Pussy!" shouted Tanner. Gyules raises his chainsaw and begins to walk over to Tanner. Tanner looks afraid.

"Aiden...save my ass...please." he pleaded. Aiden smirks and Gyules stops smirking a bit at that, but goes back to feeling awful and lays against the back of the driver's seat and merely begins to lower his face into his hands and just begins to think while like that. Mora is shivering a bit and merely walks away from Gyules and sits back by where the cargo is on the back. She is holding her arms together and is thinking to herself.

"Are we truly monsters...are my people the true beasts in here? We are attacking and trying to wipe out humanity...but for what? Why does mother want them dead so badly when they have done nothing to harm us...or have they? Maybe they have harmed us or something? Then there was Adam though...he was nice and mother seemed to like him so she had to of not hated them or had she just been desperate? She has been very desperate in the past with defeating the Lambent, but truly? I need to put these to question if I ever see her again. For now its time to secretly work on reuniting the Locusts into the grand army and to kill Skorge."

The End.


	7. Chapter 7 Marauders

**Omega's Valued Prisoner.**

Tale 7: Marauders

Mora was still pondering to herself over her plan of using these humans. It hadn't been in her original idea, but this was a bonus. Once Skorge is dead she can use his death to help get other troops to join her and go to join Myrrah killing the humans. The plan though, felt wrong.

Mora was considering her father's tactics wondering if he would approve. RAAM did what he could to win, not to make them suffer. That was just something Locusts would do due to a high tendency for violence. This was rather a crueler fate as she had to lead them on into thinking they'd help both species when she was hoping to end one. Course she had also to figure out how to transport the Marauders and other scattered groups to the Island where the 'device' her mother wants it.

Nonetheless she still felt an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach at the idea of killing off the humans as well. She always supported the Locusts of course, her own people come before the humans, but she wondered if this was truly necessary. Could peace still possibly exist or do the two species hate each other that much? Or would war last-

The Assault Derrick stops in front of large gate. There is a fairly large human port behind the gate and the walls going on it.

"This is the place?" asked Gyules.

"Yeah, it was an easy route for one of these things..or a Brumak." she said.

"Get behind cover." They all get into the driver's area as marauders begin to rain bullets on them. The Marauders open fire for a while until it stops and Mora steps out. A much more decorated Marauder steps out and growls at her. Mora shoots the Locust in the arm and begins speaking to them. Some reason the language she speaks is not anything foreign but just normal language. Mora and Myrrah are incapable of natural Locust language.

" QUIT SHOOTING! WE ARE FRIENDLY!" The Locust yells back to her for a while and then Mora's face begins to turn green.

"What the...god that is disgusting. Why did you say that!" The locust yells back to her.

"I am not leaving. You may desire to do those things, but nonetheless your help is needed! Skorge is rising and trying to take the throne." Locusts begin to stand up from behind the cover and roar at her. They seem fairly pissed at the mentioning of his name.

"Yes, Skorge. He fucked with your religion! He ruined the Kantus and now they fight rather than help feed the people. Remember your hunger and how you had to feed on whatever you could to get by. Consider how he sacrificed your brethren for pointless suicide runs that did not even harm the humans! Look at the hollows then! The Hollows which Skorge failed to keep free of attack and sacrificed enough troops for the humans to take it with a medium amount of casualties! " She would command as more and more Marauders were showing up and chanting. They were getting angry and ready to harm them.

"Skorge threatens you all once more. He plans to assassinate and possibly rape Myrrah, take charge, and perform his tactics once more to kill the humans. The locusts will fail if this occurs and the Lambent will take over everything ultimately winning. Do you want to die to those things!" The Locust roar at her as the guys watch and she continue her speech.

"When did she get so capable? When we found her she couldn't even used a sawed off, now she can make these grand speeches, rally troops, use guns." asked Osman.

"I dunno, first story a wimp and now she is capable. Possibly she was frightened in that story but now that she is comfortable she is quite capable." stated Tanner.

"Story?"

"The writings..." Gyules puts a pistol to the back of Tanner's head.

"Don't break the 4rth wall, you might destroy reality."

"Okay okay! Geezus would you really kill me over that?"

"To save reality, yes."

"I would also." said Osman raising a hand.

"For the greater good I would, but I would give you an honorable death." said Aiden.

"How would it be honorable?"

"You would die in glorious combat."

"...I need new friends." Gyules hits Tanner to make him pay attention as all of the Locusts are staring at them.

"Yes...we also have to work with...humans." Mora stated disdainfully. The Locust begin to grow angry and a few open fire at the bullet proof glass. None of the bullets pass through it.

"STOP! We need their help! Once Skorge is dead, I will personally lead you to the lair of these humans and we shall kill them!" Within the cockpit, Gyules is trying to get out.

"I knew I should've killed her!"

"Do not." said Aiden holding him back. Gyules is trying to fight.

"Aiden! Do not contradict my orders! This girl plans to sell us out, and when she lets get out we are driving out of here and killing her brutally. Fuck my biggest regret is thinking she had info. I am going to make her suffer. I already have it planned. Going to tie her up inbetween a rock worm and a glowie. Those worms can harm a gear with ease, to her...it'll be wonderful to watch.

"Ironic too! Becau-"

"Shut it tanner!" Gyules hissed. Aiden holds Gyules back and closes his eyes for a bit, takes a deep breath, then opens them.

"Klaus, she will not betray us."

"She is crazy! She believes she is a Locust!"

"Though she doesn't kill us when she could and tries to make friends."

"Which is a huge plot hole!"

" Dude! Manipulate this so we can get those Locusts killed!" said Tanner.

"If anything it would be rather easy. Mora trusts you and you could easily lead her to get her Locusts killed." Gyules sighs and begins to ponder this.

"It depends on the situation and the strategy...we won't be having the rest of the troops sent but we will come along. If you guys do not feel comfortable I will take her along at least." said Gyules sighing. Mora finishes talking to the Locusts and walks up to the guys in the driver's seat.

"Start driving in when the gates open."

"You are getting no COG forces, you know that? Only us."

"Wait, what about...you agreed!"

"I never agreed, I figured it would just be us. So that it will be. You will be able to do this." Mora looks annoyed. "You must betray me like so?"

"I never gave twos hits on you, I only care for humanity." The gates open and Osman begins to drive them in.

"We need that help! What did you think would occur."

"I thought it would only be us, you talked as if we had our troops going in. As far as I am concerned you are just the enemy." Before Mora can yell Tanner clamps his hand over her mouth.

"I suggest you quit talking because this will never end. Gyules always gets his way."

"Not always, but at least you shut her up." shouted Gyules. Osman parks the Derrick where he is instructed to, a place where Brumaks would be. The group begins to climb out and goes down the ladder. They can see the Locusts residing in consist of Savage Drones, Savage Grenadiers, Marauders, Savage Boomers, a few Grinders, a few Savage Kantuses, and a squad of Elite Savage Grenadiers approaching them. The Elite Savage Grenadiers are wielding different weaponry from Hammerbursts, to a Sawed-Off, to a Boomshot. The obvious leader of this group stands in front of the squad. His armor is decorated with some gems, the Locust symbol, and he wears a helmet similar to that of an average Savage Drone also. The Leader's squad is aiming their guns at Omega as they aim back. Mora roles her eyes.

"Let us go...discuss the plan of attack." she said. The leader nods and they begin to walk off as the guards eye them.

"Stay by the tru-"

"I know I know!" shouted Gyules. Gyules is punched a Locust who roars at him.

"Why you...damn their devotion!" he said.

"They are like ants almost in the way they love their Queen, right Tanner?" said Osman. Osman can see Tanner is gone, examining their buildings and whatnot. Tanner is approached by a Locust drone who begins to look at him curiously. The Locust approaches him and Tanner waves his arm to shoo him off. The Locust walks closer and Tanner gets up.

"What is it! Never seen a damned human before! You are trying to kill us all!" The drone remains silent and walks over to his side, looking at what he is looking at. The guys begin to snicker by the truck.

"Tanner has a new friend!"

"Must be a newborn Locust, hasn't learned to hate yet." said Aiden "Through connections like so, we could possibly create peace."

"Yeah, that will happen when pigs fly." They watch as Tanner begins to grow angry at the Locust and yell at him. The Locust doesn't respond and Tanner looks around. He looks annoyed realizing the only way to get him to go away is through violence.

"Fine if you are to stay...I shall name you...Figaro. That works." Tanner goes back to examining as the Locust watches him.

"Never thought they could be so simple."

"Must be retarded." The guys begin to hear the sound of large conch shells being blown. They all look about as Locusts begin to run around, most grabbing guns. They see Brumaks marching in the road.

"Whats going on?" asked Osman.

"TANNER! WHAT THE SHIT IS OCCURRING!" shouted Gyules.

"I DON'T FUCKIN KNOW!" shouted Tanner. The guys began to see several stalks rise from the direction Mora went towards. They are coming out of the docks and the pods are dropping Lambent. A pig goes flying ahead, thrown by a Lambent Berserker.

"Peace is now resolved." said Osman. Gyules begins to run forward towards the Lambent. Tanner runs towards a building and climbs up a ladder. Figaro follows.

"Figaro, go assist with the infantry! Go, schnell, rapido, mush, GO HELP THEM!" Figaro runs off picking up a Gnasher Shotgun. Figaro begins to run alongside Omega squad. Tanner is jumping through rooftops nimbly and quickly, following them. They run about sixty meters in which they then reach the front lines. Lambent drones, several drugdes, and a Gunker are fighting off the Locusts slowly pushing in.

"DON'T THEM TAKE ANYMORE MORE! PUSH THEM BACK UNTIL THEY ARE UP THEIR OWN ASSES!" shouted Gyules hitting cover elbow first. He pops out of cover and begins to fire his retro lancer at the enemies mafia style. He guns down a few Lambent and they explode. The head of a Drudge is blown by Tanner's sniping. Polyps begin to swarm from behind the front lines of the Lambent. One jumps onto a Locust by Aiden and begins to implant itself on his back. The Locust struggles to get it off, but the polyp forces its legs into it. The Locust hits the ground yelling as Imulsion begisn to overtake it and it turns Lambent. Gyules merely stabs the blade of his retro lancer into the throat of it effectively killing the new Lambent.

"Never knew they could do that." said Gyules.

"They are always advancing. Thats how warriors survive." said Aiden shooting a Lambent dead with his Hammerburst II. A grudge begins to mutate and loses its legs growing tall. Polyps begin to spew from it.

"Shit, shit, shit!" shouted Osman shooting the Polyps allowing the Lambent to kill more Locusts. Figaro jumps from a rooftop and onto the tall Grudge. The simple drone begins to fire its shotgun into the top of it until the Lambent grows bright yellow. It begins to shake and shout. Figaro jumps off into the ground of Lambent.

"Oh shit!" said Tanner as he begins to snipe Locusts around him. Lambent begin to explode around him. When the clip depletes they can see Figaro slam the shotgun into the face of Lambent snapping his neck with the single hit. The Lambent is dead and explodes. Figaro slams a frag grenade into one of the Lambent and runs out of the group.

"Holy shit..." said Osman.

"These grubs are tough I will say that!" said Gyules "We need to start pushing back while he weakened them." He quickly stands up and begins shooting at Lambent jumping over cover.

"DO YOU ASSHOLES WANNA LIVE FOREVER!" he rallied"ATTACK! KILL THEM! DO IT FOR YOUR FUCKIN PRINCESS!" The Locusts begin to rawr and raise their fists jumping over cover and firing their weapons. A grenadier runs up and explodes several Lambent with a sawed off only to be picked up by a Drudge with arms and ripped in two. That Drudge is tackled to the ground by Figaro. Several Locusts run up and pick up the Drudge. The creature shouts and one tags a grenade onto it and they actually throw it into the Lambent lines. It explodes creating more room. Omega Squad is running through and killing the Lambent using the power of their numbers.

Tanner is jumping rooftops and is in a good position. He is sniping the opening in the stalks to stop more Lambent from coming. Stalks are quickly dying as the Lambent are pushed back.

Several Gas Barges are flying by and beginning to open fire with Boomshot turrets. Lambent are annihilated as Omega leads the Locust towards the source of them. They all looked confused though.

"What the fuck is that thing!" shouted Osman.

"Great, they got new animals to kill us. Giant spiders, giant lizards, giant squids, and now giant flying fish. What next? Giant centipedes?" Gyules shouted in anger. He begins to rush towards their capitol building. Its Locust made from the foundation of an old building. The building is build of whatever stone they could manage into a larger spiraling tower. The Locust Symbol appears above the doorway. Another symbol is carved above that symbol and the next every ten feet. There is sign at the bottom of attempting a design, but it was obviously stopped. The tower though now bears several marks from explosives and damage done to it in the attack. Gyules runs into the tower without caring for the danger.

"Damn to think she can get this far away from me without exploding." said Gyules.

"That device has a large distance, she can be across the city from you and she won't explode." said Osman.

"How do you..."

"My brother had one on in prison, he tested how far he could go with it..."

"Oh..." Tanner comes running behind them panting.

"You...you fucktards...YOU DIDN'T WAIT FOR ME!" he panted, bending over with his hands on his knees.

"You are still alive?"

"I hate you guys so much." They approach the large spiral staircase."

"Meh...I can't walk up that...carry me!" Aiden picks up Gyules and begins to carry him bridal style up the stairs. Osman and Gyules shrug beginning to follow. The guys get up to the second floor and can see a sign of bloodshed.

Three Savage Grenadier Elites are dead, with only two alive and the leader. One of the two Locusts is bleeding quite badly from the gut, the other is scrapped but unharmed. The Leader is clutching Mora with a boltok pistol aimed at the guy. Mora's right shoulder along with part of her arm, part of her neck, and a bit of her cheek is burned from Imulsion. Its tinged with yellow and a bit of it is coming off. Her gut is bleeding into the side of the Locust and her left shoulder bears a Boltok blast in it.

"Ah shit..." said Gyules running to her. As he runs to her they hear a shake. The room falls in a little. The tower begins to collapse within itself.

The End


	8. Chapter 8 Strategy

**Omega's Valued Prisoner.**

Chapter 8: Strategy

"SHIT, THE DAMNED TOWER IS COMING APART!" shouted Osman "We gotta get out of here!"

"Too late man, if I am to die like this I have to say Mora."

"What?"

"Your tits are nice. I had to say it! It seems like everything is turning to shit and everyone is starving, but you kept a nice frame. They could be a little bit bigger." Tanner would say as quickly as possible as the ceiling collapsed. The stone from the top of the tower begins to fall off, but a large piece falls inward and smashes through the floor above them. Gyules grabs Mora and tries to shield her from it. Luckily their floor collapses and they fall through that and the floor beneath them. The stone that was to crush them falls above them blocking out all light. Except for Mora and a few Locusts, they land within the water of old sewer tunnels.

"Ah fuck...what is that smell...it smells like...the shitter hole after a night of Aiden's Cajin stew. Oh god!" Tanner said as he swam to the surface. He grips his nose to stop it, but ends up getting a piece of Locust shit on his nose.

"AH FUCK!" he shouted and began trying to wipe it off.

"I am so glad I wear a helmet right now." said Osman. Mora laughs a bit at their discomfort and then grips her cheek in pain, with an arm over his gut.

"Ow...I did a bellly flop on the pavement!" she whined. The Locusts and Gyules rush to her side.

"I am fine, I don't think I-ow!" Gyules pushes the Locusts aside and lifts up her shirt. Mora's has a large wound on her stomach that is bleeding profusely.

"Someone get some bandages or somethin! QUICKLY!" he shouted to the guys "Don't just stand there! If she dies Skorge will fuckin live!" he shouted. The Locusts storm off as quickly as they can. Aiden runs to Mora's side.

"You remember what to do, just keep putting pressure on her wound. Dammit Mora, why is it you can never go without getting hurt? You are like a fuckin damsel in distress."

"I can't help the tower fell apart. Its not that bad!"

"It should heal by quickly, as you seem rather good at healing." The Locusts return with a few more than before with cloth.

"That should suffice." said Gyules. He pulls off of his belt some medicine which he applies to the cloth and begins to bandage the wound. She wraps it around a few times. Gyules makes sure its applied and pulls down her shirt. He picks her up and holds her bridal style.

"We should get going. These tunnels do not seem too stable and we should get out before the minimal light in here is gone." said Gyules as he begins to walk.

"Locusts, you should lead the way. Your princess needs to rest for a while, but should be better and on her feet soon. Though that burn won't heal." The main Locust signals them to follow and they begin to follow him. Mora clutches to Gyules' arm and begins to pass out slowly. They would navigate the sewers and begin to see the Locusts had been digging tunnels through it. They can see within a few tunnels that there are miners digging and Golden Miners commanding them and giving them orders of where to dig.

Tanner begins to whisper a few wise cracks only for Gyules to whisper to him to shut it. As they delve deeper within they can see there are many more Locusts than they expected that just live within the tunnels in whatever they can, trying to maintain some style but it doesn't seem to be working well. They are lead to a set of stairs where they are lead up them and can see New Nexus. Mora has fallen asleep.

"We will start discussing battle plans when she wakes up." said Gyules. The locusts nod and then they guys begins to walk back to the Assault Derrick and the Locusts go to repair.

"So we are actually doing this?" said Tanner.

"Yup."

"We did see Skorge was alive, so its kind of in our best interest to take out a Locust big shot whenever we can."

"What if they turn on us in the middle of this? What if they Mora is just gonna use them to attack us and then go raid our home!" said Tanner "I will follow you to the end, but I am still questioning this."

"Relax Tanner, I have this planned out." said Gyules.

"I am fairly certain Mora will not turn on us though." said Aiden "As you even mocked her for, she likes it with us."

"I was just joking, but if you believe I was onto somethin, why deny it?" The guys arrive at the Derrick fairly quickly, as it is easy to see out of all of the half destroyed buildings. Aiden climbs the ladder first and then reaches down as Gyules lifts Mora up. He grabs her and pulls her on, then Gyules climbs up. Tanner and Osman follow.

"So what is this glorious plan of yours?" asked Tanner.

"Easy, I am going with Mora as we go to kill Skorge, once he is dead, I will contact you guys via radio and you run to the place. I will knock Mora out and we will sneak out of the battle with her as the Locusts deal with fighting other Locusts. We can claim she is wounded and we are going to heal her and then flee. No one will notice, until we are gone, then the Locusts return to this place and it collapses and they all die." said Gyules.

"That plan is...crap." said Tanner.

"IT seems too risky, we might not be able to sneak into the base and we still do not even have how the strategy is yet. For all we know we could completely dominate his forces and they get to him before you do." said Osman.

"I do not know the details of the place, so sorry I dunno exactly what to do!" shouted Gyules.

"I think I have a plan." said Osman.

"That would be.." said Tanner.

"Gyules, threaten that if they harm any of us, you will kill yourself. Tell them we have a device in our armour that tells us if any of us are killed and Mora will explain how if you die her legs will blow off and she will bleed out."

"Best thing we got." said Gyules "...I won't actually kill myself if any of you guys die though."

"A warrior must persist." said Aiden "I am fairly certain we can trust Mora though."

"You put too much faith in her." said Gyules "As much as we help her, she is still a fuckin Locust. Until told otherwise by her mother she will never see as anything more than the enemy." said Gyules "Once this is all over and Skorge is dead, I am personally throwing her corpse down the river."

"You say that...but what about-" Osman elbows Tanner to get him to be quiet. Gyules lays down on the Derrick

"Here, I have been saving these, but do you want one early?" asked Osman pulling out from an ammunition pouch a cigarette.

"As much as I would love that, its yours." said Gyules.

"C'mon man! You seem quite stressed, it would ease you." he said.

"Meh, I am going to get some sleep, you should all do so also." said Gyules.

"On the hard Assault Derrick?" asked Osman. Gyules is already falling asleep.

"We have been up all day. If we do not sleep we will not fight as well, nor shall we plan as well." said Aiden. He begins to rest against the back of the Assault Derrick.

"I am going to sleep in the driver's chair. Then I won't have a bad back like them in the morning." said Osman.

"You know we should've brought our equipment." said Tanner.

"Who cares, and go to sleep. If Mora wakes up, Aiden will also. You know he is a light sleeper."

"Thats cause he sleeps with his eyes open!" said Tanner. The two looks to Aiden who already fell asleep and his eyes are wide open. Osman shrugs and merely goes to the chair. Tanner sighs is about to lay against the glass, when he gets an evil idea. He carefully picks up Mora and places her next to Gyules.

"Now if I am lucky, they will wake up in an awkward pose." he thought to himself and smiled at his work. Tanner snickers a little and goes to sleep against the side of the Rig's cockpit. Mora would awaken a few hours later and find herself clutching Gyules' arm, her face dug into the armour. She scoots back a little and grips her gut feeling a little sore but having healed quickly. She lifts up her shirt to see the bandages that are stained with her blood.

"You are awake." said Aiden. He groans a bit and stretches. Mora is startled to see him awake, jumping a little, but then turns to him.

"Y-yeah. You all fell asleep on the Derrick? The Locusts could-"

"I am sorry to say, but they do not trust the Locust. I trust that they will obey you rule, but I still do not feel safe by them."

"I would question it, but considering how they have been trying to kill you..."

" And succeeding. A great many warriors and innocents have been killed. I do not blame the Locusts, but I still understand them as a threat."

"You are...quite different. Why is that?"

"I was raised on Irohma Island, I learned views on war and fighting and in doing so I examined war. I do not hate the Locusts, they are my enemy, but I realize that they are only fighting. I realize also that you do not share the exact views as your mother. You do not hate humans."

"I do hate humans! They are scum that must die!"

"Yet you are conversing with one and have made friends with us. You cared for Gyules when he was feeling down, you have fought Lambent beside us, and you even speak our language fluently." Mora begins to bit her lip looking down, thinking.

"What is it that makes us scum? Think about that." said Aiden. Aiden shakes Gyules a little.

"Klaus, its time to get up." he said.

" Huh-what!" He looks around. "The world looks better in my head." Aiden awakens Tanner with a nudge.

"We are going to be plotting the battle soon, get up." said Aiden. Tanner mumbles a few things and waves his arm at Aiden. Aiden picks up Tanner by his shoulders and sets him down so he is standing.

"Fine..." said Tanner and began to walk into the cockpit to awaken Osman. Osman is awakened quickly and then gets out.

"I want breakfast."

"Its not that time of day..."

"I want breakfast!" whined Osman. The guys begin climbing down the ladder and then are approached by the Locust leader. Mora walks over to him and the two begin conversing as they walk over to where they discuss. The two talk in a Locust language that is difficult to understand and seems impossible for humans to perform, but yet Mora can speak it fluently.

"Why is she speaking that now...and maybe she isn't completely human." said Osman.

"Her father is RAAM, of course she has a few genetic advantages. Course for all we know she has a scaly vagina." said Tanner. Mora hears that and points to Tanner. The Locust leader slams his Hammerburst II into Tanner's bald skull. Tanner grips his skull in pain and shouts a curse at him as the guys hold him back. Mora smiles evilly and then continues talking to him. The guys arrive in an old building with half of the roof destroyed. Inside is a desk with several Locusts of different classes looking at it.

"I had them set this up so you and I can plan this, Gyules." said Mora "Turns out they already knew where Skorge lived as he tried to recruit this settlement and a scout was sent to investigate it during the attack and our nap. Skorge is currently set up within an old Pendulum Wars base." she said. She shows that they have a makeshift model made of the base and the area out of stones and random objects they could find to get a basic idea. The base is tall and build into a wall with a military built wall in front of it. On the corners of the walls are guard towers with smaller rocks that have written on them in the locust language: Brumak. It appears to be located within a canyon as there are several raised areas around it that could act as cover.

"So...this is what we got? What kind of classes of soldiers do we have?" asked Gyules.

"We have actually a lot at our hands. We also have several other groups of Locusts coming to help with the fight, so our numbers are uncertain but more than theirs. We have five Brumaks as you saw and every class of Boomer except the Mauler and flame boomer. We have Grenadiers, basic drones, snipers, and grapplers. Few Reavers and no Corpsers besides the smaller variant I am sure you have seen, but only a few of those. One of our groups is bringing for us three Siegebiests, basically like a catapault. Rather than Reavers for air support we have two Gas Barges that can transport troops and fire at the enemy. There are Berserkers, but they refuse to employ them in the battlefield and risk them. Females have become a tad bit rare lately."

"How is it outside of the fortress? Know of any of Skorge's troops?"

"Skorge has many Kantus under his employment and has the fortress filled with many drones. He bears quite a few boomers as well and probably a few berserkers they may release when they get desperate. What I am worried about is, though we lack detail on it, is that they received some of mothers special Armoured Kantus. You have obviously faced those as when you took me you killed a few. He obviously has Reavers, in case you can't tell, by the walls are two Brumaks. There are probably no Corpsers other than the smaller ones, but its something to worry for. Few wrenches, but tickers a plenty. We believe they are using something new also, serapedes."

"Serapedes? Like the little ones that seem to get everywhere?" asked Osman "I hate those things, its hard to crush them and they always glow in night."

"They bite also." said Tanner "Ever been bitten by one? Its feels like they zap you a little

"Thats a different variant, they gathered giant ones that can zap you when it gets close."

"Weird...but I can see how that would work." said Gyules "Is that all?"

"Yup, he isn't as well supplied as we thought, but we caught him early as most Locust settlements received a visit from him asking to join his forces." stated Mora "More join him every day, so we have to hit him early.

" Oh, then this should be easy!" said Gyules "We approach him with a formidable force of drones, maybe a few Corpsers, basically close quarter combatants. Our own forces will be marked and once our soldiers are within the area we shall attack. Osman, you, and I, will be dressed in Theron robes, I am fairly certain we lost a few to the Lambent in this attack so there are some to spare. The armour might be cumbersome on your Mora, but you should be fine. We will remove the armour and the soldiers will attack. I will signal them when to attack. As we march there, the large columns there will conceal our Boomers. Our Brumaks will join us, but remain outside by the column since they can't enter. They will think they are with this. When we attack I will contact Aiden via radio who will lead the Boomers and they will unleash their Boomshots onto the Brumaks and guard towers and the Brumaks will unleash their rockets. Depending on the amount of Boomers, we may or may not kill the Brumaks instantly. Also depends on their size and health. Once they are dead we will have Grapplers come down from the rooftop and begin invading the upper levels of the base."

"That base has security." said Tanner.

"How would you know?"

"I am a former Gorasni and that is a famous Gorasni base. We slid it right under the COG's nose. The base was armed with turrets that could mow down most anything. If we enter and begin to overpower them, they would turn on the turrets and its bye bye good guys."

"Dammit! What do we do about that?" asked Gyules.

"Cut the power. The base had solar panels a little bit off from it. I will take a squad of Locusts and you give me the signal and I will cut the power. We will have to kill the guys guarding it though."

"Thanks Tanner." said Gyules.

"Just hit Skorge in the nuts for me, will ya? I always wanted to have a religious leader hit in the nuts, even better when its Pope Locust."

"Whats a pope?" asked Mora.

"Religious leader. Hey do your Kantus mo- wait its not even worth asking." he said.

"Well, everything sound good?" The Locust leaders and the Gears nod.

"Then get us the armour, we march." said Gyules.

The End


	9. Chapter 9 Preparation

**Omega's Valued Prisoner.**

Chapter 9: Preparation

Gyules sighed as he began to examine the Theron armour. Its dried from the sun, crackling at parts, and wreaks of various scents. The chest plate is scorned and damaged from taking a direct Gnasher hit. It tore through the front robes, but metal plating beneath it proves it to have armour beneath the part for show, though that was not enough to save this poor soul. The inside is stained with blood of the dead Locust. Its obvious its been repaired several times over from various battle wounds and was possibly handed down from Theron to Theron.

"This armour does not make me safe." he said "Considering the amount of Therons I have killed also..."

"Oh, do not be such a pussy." said Mora, already wearing the armour, but a smaller version for her size.

"Ooh snap! She got you!" exclaimed Tanner. Gyules shoots him a glare and he shrugs.

"We are going into our first major battle since Hollow Storm, this may be the last time you hear my wit!"

"Relax man, we are all gonna make it. One way or another." said Osman walking into the room in Theron robes. He has on all of it but the helmet, though the armour proves almost a little too large for him.

"This is the craziest we have been through though! Working with Locusts! And mind you Mora, actual Locusts, not brainwashed halfbred humans who think they are Locusts. No offense."

"Much taken."

"I don't give a shit, point is. While I am in a minor group and have much chance to run flee, you guys are gonna gets your asses whipped more than Prescott did with that transexual!" They all groan, remembering him talking about that. Aiden would walk into the room after the groan with a box full of ammo boxes. "Take your share of ammo once you get dressed, we are leaving soon." he said. Gyules sighs and gets up, taking the armour to go change elsewhere. He walks past Tanner and into a room nearby. Mora begins vigorously scrubbing her Hammerburst, trying to get it cleaned.

"Dammit, Stranded do not take care of their shit." she muttered as she scrubbed the place. Osman has an evil idea and whispers to Tanner. Tanner smiles a little and waits a few minutes before initiating the evil idea.

"Hey Mora, there is a better cloth in that room." said Tanner pointing to a nearby room.

"Oh thanks, I think I completely used up this one." she said and placed the cloth on a table. It was completely brown with filth and rust of the gun she had been working to clean. Mora set the hammerburst by it, which is quite clean but has some work to go. Mora walks into the room and finds it the room where Gyules is changing. She can see him without his shirt on, merely pants and boots. He is in the process of putting on the gauntlets.

His body is ripped, as it usual for a gear, but also as its usual he is scarred. Various bullet wounds, scars, and even burns adorn his exposed chest. He bears several detailed tattoos. On each arm is a COG helmet with a name underneath it. On his right arm is the name Klaus with Alpha written underneath it, several flowers are depicting blooming by it. Its paralleled on the other side with a different style helmet and the name Catherine, Gamma. On his chest depicted is a COG gear, but it seems that cracks and damage to added to the tattoo later. Mora's face is blushing red and Gyules merely raises an eyebrow.

"Da'fuck you want?" he asked.

"I...umm...heheh I was just told there was a cloth in here that could be used to clean my gun...and..oh look my nose is bleeding!" she said. She puts her hand to her nose to try and stop the blood flow.  
>"Its...quite bad! Is there..." Gyules rolls his eyes and tosses her two pieces of cloth. She mutters a silent thanks and puts it to her face. She then grabs the door knob and turns it, only for it to break off.<p>

"Oh...shit." she said and knocked on the door a little.

"Uh...guys! HEY!" she shouted and hit against the door some more and her face growing even more red with blush. Gyules facepalms and begins removing the device from it that makes Mora be within range of him. He rip it out of the armour and looks it over. Its a small little computer chip that is burnt out. She did not need to be within range of him this time. Rather than tell her he just puts it in his pocket and walks to the door. Gyules kicks it open so she can walk out. He then closes the door to keep tending to the armour.

"Tha-that was quite awkward." she said.

"I bet Osman wishes he was in your place."

"How many times must I tell you man, Gyules and I are just friends."

"I see the way you look at his ass! You think the helmet hides it!" Osman facepalms.

"Because I am gay, does not mean I am gay for every man. Get that through your head!" he said.

"How can you be happy for a man? I believe gay means happy, right?"

"Huh?" Tanner and Osman said. She sits down where she had before looking to them. Aiden would begin laughing and scared the three.

"Whoa! I...we forgot you were there." said Osman.

"You always forgot while I pray." said Aiden "Nonetheless, Mora has never encountered homosexuality. Its a tad bit funny when she has been serving with Osman this whole time."

"Not that funny, but meh.."

"WHAT IS HOMOEXUALITY! And then its called gay? What is this about you?"

"Its when a man or woman is attracted to their own gender"

"...How does that work? You two cannot reproduce and if children cannot be made, doesn't it not work then? I know you humans did introduce me to the idea of people pairing up and staying together, but with the same gender?"

"Grasp that with Locusts, imagine two Berserkers on each other." said Tanner. There a moment of silence, and then Aiden begins laughing while Osman and Mora puke a little in their mouths.

"There is...this is why Mother wants to kill you off. For thinking of shit like Berserker on Berserker! I am ignoring you guys until my gun is cleaned." she said, but is smiling. Osman begins laughing and decides to lay back against a wall. Gyules would walk into the room a little while later with the armour on and Tanner would mention of Berserker on Berserker. Gyules thinks for a little and then begins to laugh a little.

"Whats sad is, somewhere out there a human is masturbating to that image." Gyules laughed and sat down next to Mora.  
>"Oh you are worse!" Mora laughed and pushed him away a little. "I bet its you even. I know how you like Locust."<p>

"Oh I like Locust? Tanner freakin began naming them!"

"Just Figaro...and Horatio...and Adolf...okay I named my group. You did not deny liking Locusts though! Hey...the one next to you!"

"Yeah, hell no." said Gyules "And when you guys do that, its just awkward."

"Meh. So when are we heading out?" asked Tanner.

"Whenever Mora says. Is everyone ready though?" They all nod and Mora smiles.

"Lets get to the rides, I will go command the Locusts and then we shall go take on Skorge. If we get enough numbers, this should not be much of a challenge if we hit them right." she said "His forces are still weak." The guys merely nod once more and get up, beginning to walk out and to their Assault Derrick. Tanner would guide Osman what roads to take to get to the place. Aiden would man the turret the whole time, so Gyules and Mora ended up sitting together against the back. Mora is examining a human item she discovered on the back of it. A Polaroid camera.

"So you just...click a button and a picture comes out?" she said as she looked it up.

"Yeah..."

"Does it just draw it really quickly?"  
>"I am not certain, but it copies exactly what happened that exact instant it was taken. Shall I?" She hands the camera to him and he points it towards them, holding her a bit closer.<p>

"Smile." said Gyules. Mora smiles a little and he does a bit also, then takes the picture. It comes out of the bottom and Gyules shakes it. It comes out clear and he hands it to her.

"Little keepsake. Photo can still smear, so until its draw just hold it by the white part. By the time we get there you will be able to put in your pocket or something." he said. She just looks it over, focusing intently. Mora then frowns a little, observing.

"My god...I do look so human." she said.

"Never noticed I assume."

"I never got direct comparison. Its just...a little bothersome. Considering how much Mother has downtalked them ever since they said they could not help." she said.

"Wait...what?"

"You do not know?"  
>"I believe the first contact we had was on E-day, where every damned human though it was a lame science fiction movie come to life."<p>

"Mother contacted a man beforehand, Adam Fenix, to solve the Lambent problem. I was young, but I still recall to this day never seeing her so desperate and begging of a man. She could not contain her composure and was pretty much begging. Adam was just shocked by the existence of our race, but did agree. He just never completed the device he promised. When he would come over, he kept telling her how it was near impossible to create without killing the Locusts as well."

"...Dammit!" exclaimed Gyules, realizing how close that was "If Adam hadn't died then this damned war could have been over."

"Mother thinks he might still be alive, but last I remember she had been gathering all of the Locusts together, since they are all in scattered. She has a pretty good portion set up...and I was leading a group under her until you came along and captured me." Mora would state, sounding happy at the start, but gradually becoming angrier. She glares at Gyules, but goes back to smiling, stating: "I, I actually have kind of enjoyed myself during this time as a P.O.W."

"Gonna get Stockholm Syndrome if we let you go?"

"Oh please, I will probably stay with Mother and she will have a plan to defeat the Lambent. Then when they die you and I will become enemies again and I will keep your head on my wall."

"Right, or they will be too weakened defeating the Lambent and then once I kill your mother you get a public COG execution by my hand." Gyules would take out his snub pistol and put it to her head.

"I will use this pistol."

"If you do, just use mine instead." said Mora pulling out her Boltok.

"Bigger, more powerful, less of a clip, but who needs as much firepower when this one shot will tear an enemy away."

"I will do so then, as a final request." he said and smiled. Gyules puts away his pistol and sighs. Mora looks at the picture once more, observing her own features and whatnot more closely. The two would converse there for a little while, arriving within sight of the place in a few hours. Mora would put away the picture then and they got out of the Derrick. The squad would meet with the Locust forces, the leader of them walking up to Mora for guidance.

"You all know the plan?" she asked sternly. The Locust would nod and forward would step the Locusts who would enter the group. Among their ranks were mostly Therons, but several Flamer Grenadiers would be with them along with a few Boomers and Kantuses. Mora smiled at them.

"This will work well for a group Skorge would be excited to have." said Mora. Gyules and Osman put on their helmets to the armour.

"Now what if any of them smell us out?" asked Osman.

"They will not over the odor of these Locusts, by the time they realize it will be too late anyways." said Gyules "Now make your speech and lets march."

"Speech?"

"Usually leaders make speeches accompanied by music that makes it feel powerful. Osman holds up a boombox and presses a button to start playing the music. Mora sighs.

"Should probably get on top of the Derrick. Remember to be audible!" said Tanner "Enunciate your words and I think you got something in your teeth." She rubs her teeth a bit and finds nothing. Mora then climbs the ladder to the top of the Derrick. Osman restarts the music and climbs to the top of the Derrick, placing the boombox behind her and turning it up full blast.

"K, everything...set!" He slides down the ladder and now she begins bullshitting it.

"My people! My...beloved and superior people. I bring you here on situations...Situation I would prefer us not to be in. As we suffer, thanks to the infection and humanity, we are suffering from our own people!

General Skorge, within that building is plotting to take us over. He wants command over your power, but will you let that happen?" The Locusts would all roar as if to say no.

"Of course not...because you are the horde. You are the strongest and most powerful the Locusts have to offer. For it is you, who have survived the dangers facing us. You have survived humans, the burning of the surface, the flooding of the hollows, the Lightmass bomb, and countless battles. This makes you, the best there is, to rip out Skorge's heart and consume it. Now lets go kill this bastard, for your princess and your Queen!" The guys are all facepalming.

"That was...god I will pity the Locusts if she ever becomes leader." said Tanner.

"Maybe thats how we should have won the war." said Osman.

"Would've been nice and then we would not be in this shit storm..."

"Let us not reflect on what we could have done, let us think of what shall be done. The Locusts will surrender and we shall have peace." said Aiden "Once Skorge and Myrrah are dead." The guys would all nod in agreement as she went down the ladder.

"Shall we go finally fucking invade this place?" asked Gyules.

"Yes please." said Mora. Tanner would begin leading the armies. They walk a little bit forward and up a rocky hill to see a large area risen fairly high out of the ground. A large door and building face is within the side of the cliff. It goes up all the way to the top of it, where one can see many solar panels up there. A few paths through the rocks lead up to the generators, but they can see the fort. Walls are sticking in front of the fort, made of a metal painted brown. The faded symbol of the Republic of Gorasyna is on several parts of the wall, but usually its been painted over with the symbol for the Locust Horde. Skorge did not alter the symbol design for his troops. Brumaks can even be seen, sitting on the side of each tower.

"I will take my team and get to the generators. There should be safety ones in there so its not too dark." said Tanner.

"Got it." said Gyules.

"I will sit back with my boomers." said Aiden raising his Boomshot towards the air. Gyules smiles and then begins walking with the group. The group would begin marching towards the base. The breeze is nice and flows through tall grass that they are walking through. Tanner is leading his men through the grass, trying to remain undetected. The armies would begin their march to the base. Patrols would see them, but a few Locusts would signal that they were on friendly terms. Gyules would smile slyly underneath his helmet. The patrols would merely begin trying to estimate the numbers, surprised at how many were coming.

"How many do we have?" whispered Gyules.

"I dunno, Locusts can do basic counting, but not large scale counting or math. They usually get angry and something breaks." she whispered back. The two would begin merging into the crowd as they neared, trying to stay hidden. Osman would merely follow. Staying close to Gyules. The group would march to the base as scouts ran ahead to go inform Skorge. They would quickly arrive to the Fort, taking up much of the area. The Brumaks of both sides would roar at each other and only calmed down once their Locust masters commanded it. The Savage Grenadier Elite choosing to represent them stands forward. Skorge would be on the wall just above the gate while guards who were armed with a variety of weapons adorned the sides of the wall. From simple Boltoks, to Hammerbursts, to even a few Longshots, but their weapons were dirty and not entirely fit for use. Within the towers there was a single opening at the top, where Locusts had the old Chain Guns from the base operational. Many more Locusts adorn within, including mortar crews.

Skorge was wearing a new headdress designed like his own, but a bit more crude. The helmet is reforged metal, but is merely one maroon colour. Leather and torn cloth are coming out of the end of it with metal rings or chain links on the end. Though there are the primary two on the end with go down to a small spike. A glass eye, or quite possibly the eye of another Kantus, replaces the eye that was shot out by Gyules. He wears a scavenged version of his original attire he wore when he worked for Myrrah. Skorge growls and begins shouting to them in the Kantus language. The Locust Grenadier would begin shouting to him about how they desire to join. Skorge seemed impressed and would begin chanting as the gates opened. The first group would be walking in.

"How do we excuse the rest not entering?" asked Gyules.

"Its natural the elite enter first, but with numbers this big he probably could not house us all." muttered Mora. Gyules would nod and their group would start walking in. Osman would smile, glad this is working. Elsewhere though, Tanner would be with his squad, ready to attack the Locusts at the panels. He lead a squad of six Locust snipers, all prone right now and in the grass. The solar panels were quite a few times larger than a man and all designed to follow the sun as it went. There were quite a few powerful panels in the area, but no time for them to count. A few were damaged, but they were repaired to the best Locusts could. A little room with for the guards to sleep in was present and had an elevator that could lead into the facility. Five Locusts were within that room, while another five were outside, guarding the area. Two were resting in the shade and darkness of a panel near the generator area, looking to the east. One was facing towards the direction Tanner's men were at, but could not see them, another was facing away from the valley and walking about that direction, and the last was sitting off of the cliff, watching the engagement.

"Okay, hmm...how to do this." muttered Tanner. He knew at least how to get rid of the one near them. He put away his Longshot and pulled out a combat knife. Tanner would whistle and caused the Locust closest to them to walk over. He would walk towards the grass slowly and Tanner would stand up quickly, putting his hand over his mouth and pulling the Locust down, stabbing into his neck. He kept his hand over his mouth and then the Locust would gurgle a little, quickly dying.

"You." he whispered to Figaro. Figaro would look over to him, focusing like a cat who saw a toy.

"Shoot Locust facing opposite of the cliff, I will get the other one. Reload and then shoot with them to the ones facing opposite of us. When the enemies come out of the building, I want the rest of you ready to shoot at them when they come out." said Tanner. The Locust nod and they start the plan. Figaro would get up and begin sneaking through the grass towards the one facing opposite of them. Tanner would be crouching and wandering out of the grass slowly with his knife. He would be walking ever so slowly with his knife. The gunshot would be heard that Figaro fired and Tanner grabbed the Locust, covering his mouth and stabbing his throat.

Figaro reloaded and ran past a solar panel down to near where Tanner is. Tanner would take out his Longshot rifle and the two would fire at the Locusts who were just turning around. Figaro's shot went through the Locust's chest and he fell over dead. Tanner shot his in the head. The five other members ran right into the generator room and opened fire on the Locust within. Tanner would run too late, finding the firefight quickly over. Two of his mind are shot dead, but the five Locusts in there were killed.

"Well, we are set then." said Tanner. He would contact Gyules via radio earpiece.

"We have control over the power. Tell me when to start."

"Alright. If you can, try and join in the fight." said Gyules.

"There is an elevator up here, it might act as a good means of escape or re-entering if needed."

"Will do." Gyules would then go silent as he observed the inside of the base. It was crampt, most of the Locusts in there group were tightly together. They would begin dispersing, three at a time, to other parts of the fort. Skorge is merely talking about the building and their goals with the Grenadier leader. It would take a little bit of time, in which Gyules and Osman were bored the whole time, until Skorge finished it. The Grenadier would shake Skorge's hand at the end and then raised his hand for the signal.

"Cut the power now!" said Gyules into the radio earpiece. Tanner would flip the switch off in the generator room, cutting off the solar power and leaving the emergency power for the lights on. The Grenadier would take out a sawed off shotgun as Locusts in their group began shooting at Skorge's locusts. They would begin dispersing through the fort to go kill whatever Locusts they find.

The Grenadier Elite was about to fire his sawed off, but instead Skorge would punch him and then grabbed from his belt his chainsaw staff. It was compact this time, but when a button was pressed, metal expanded and it was to full size. Skorge slammed it into the Grenadier's shoulder and would cut through him like a Lancer up close. He growled and then Gyules would take a running start at him. He slammed Skorge through a door into the next room, raising his Lancer only to be thrown off of him. The two were in a large room with a dome ceiling. Many tables were now moved to sides which had been in the center, the area obviously being where they decoded and received information. Where all of the scientists worked together.

Skorge would begin swinging his staff a few times and the two locked eyes, ready for their final dual.

The End


	10. Chapter 10 Dual

****Omega's Valued Prisoner****

Tale 10: Duel

Skorge would begin growling at Gyules as the two would be circling. Gyules wielded his Lancer similar to if it were a sword, ready to cut when needed. Mora would run into the room and his eyes diverted to her entering. Skorge would take advantage of this and jumped at Gyules, slammed his staff down at him. Gyules was block with his Lancer and pushing against him. He was getting pushed back and losing his ground, but began to put in more effort, pushing at Skorge before throwing him off.

Mora would pull out her Hammerburst and open fire at Skorge. The six round burst would hit his body, causing minor damage and he merely turned to her and growled, his eye showing much anger. He would turn back to Gyules and began moving back a little, realizing he is outnumbered. Skorge begins chanting.

"Now is our chance!" said Gyules and would start to open fire at Skorge. Before he can do any significant damage, he can hear ticking.

"Fuck...I know what this means." he stated, quite annoyed with this. A ticker would come running from somewhere and ran to Gyules. It prepared to explode and he jumped away, only for that one to explode and another to come near. It exploded and another one was right by where he landed.

"Fuck." said Gyules and jumped away as that one explode. He looked back to Mora to see her fending off Skorge with her Hammerburst. He kept swinging his staff at her hammerburst multiple times until he finally broke through. Gyules would begin firing at him once more and Skorge would then jump to him. Rather than meet chainsaw to chainsaw, Gyules would instead put his chainsaw bayonet on the staff by the chainsaw end, cutting it off and leaving him with one saw. Skorge would growl in frustration and then kicked him, sending him towards the center of the room. Skorge would then toss an ink grenade at him. It bounced off of his head and he caught it in his head.

"Ah fuck me!" he said and it explodes. He began coughing rather loudly and dives out of the smoke He coughs a bit and then falls over.  
>"Oh, that is gonna suck for my body to filter." he said and then looked over to Skorge standing above him. Skorge would kick him onto his back and raised his food up. Gyules just laid there and watched as he slammed his foot onto his face. He shouted a curse and would take his combat knife, stabbing it into Skorge's leg. Skorge shouted in pain and fell down on his ass. Gyules got up quickly, his nose broken and bleeding badly.<p>

"What did you think that would do? Explode my head?" he asked grabbing his Retro Lancer. Gyules would point it at Skorge and start firing, the bullets tearing through his body and doing much harm, though Skorge would then jump away, fleeing out of sight. Mora would run to Gyules.

"Oh shit, I thought you died!"

"And you did nothing to help. Thanks."

"Well I...I dunno I have never fought in a major fight!" she said.

"Just...Skorge is going to-" An explosion would come beneath Gyules and Mora, the ground is starting to give away. Gyules grabs onto Mora as the ground beneath them collapses and the two begin falling.

"Hang on tight." said Gyules, positioning them so he takes the majority of the damage. The two would fall into deeper tunnels being dug out by the Locusts. Gyules would hit a rock sticking out and then fell to the ground.

Shit...you okay?" he asked letting go. Mora is still holding tightly, but then lets go and looks up to him, nodding.

"And I cannot see a damned thing." he said looking about. Skorge begins laughing and Mora would take Gyules' gun.

"Dammit you are vulnerable. You cannot see a thing." she said.

"And you dunno how to use that damned gun." he said grabbing his retro lancer.

"I have minor training!"

"The recoil would probably remove your arms." he said.  
>"We need somethin-SHIT!" she said "Skorge has drones coming in."<p>

"Use that Boltok of yours. You have the training." he said "I will see what I can do for light." Gyules slowly feels his way to cover and gets behind a wall. He begins to try and contact Osman.

"Osman, I need you." he said.

"A little busy man!" said Osman. Osman is in the garage of the building, sitting within a Pariah Tank. The garage door is open and he has just fired and destroyed one of the tower. Right now he is trying to get it to fire at the wall, but is the only guy in it.

"I need you to back to that hallway we were in and go to the door it was leading to. There is a hole and I need you to drop a source of light in there. Skorge dropped us down a hole and Mora's gun is gone and its pitch dark in here."

"Where the hell do I get something that can light the tunnel?" asked Osman as he got the shell in. He would then press the button and fire at the wall, destroying it and exposing the forces.

"I dunno, you are the only one I can turn to right now!" he said.

"...Shit!" said Osman. Osman would jump out of the take and start running. He would begin looking about the garage, at the bodies. He keeps looking and then finds a dead Flamer.

"Should work..." he muttered. He picks up the pack off of the corpse and his Scorcher. Osman would take off running to the room, jumping over obstacles and running past minor skirmishes. He would keep running and then the ground would shake. He nearly falls over, but keeps up and continues to run.

"Did you do that man?" he asked.

"Oh yeah I just made the entire damned earth rumble and nearly collapse this tunnel. Check with Aiden, I got nothing on this end besides Locust-MORA GET YOUR DAMNED HEAD DOWN! Anyways, check with Aiden." Osman begins to mutter curse words and then runs to the room. He runs in and finds Skorge is within the room. Skorge looks over to Osman and then jumps at him. Osman tosses the stuff towards the hole and then picks up his gun.

Skorge slams his chainsaw staff at him and begins trying to push him back. Osman is being pushed back slowly and then his Lancer ends up being pushed off and Skorge slams it in the area between his neck and shoulder blade. He begins to dig it in a little and then Osman slams the butt of his gun into Skorge's gut. He begins to run through the door and Skorge starts firing his Gorgon pistol at him. Osman merely gets behind cover.

"Shit! This is their fight...not mine." he said panting. He grips his shoulder and then Skorge runs to him and stands over Osman.

"Lord...please save me now." he muttered. Skorge merely smiles and raises his staff, but then another rumble occurs. A stalk comes out from beneath Skorge and millimeters from Osman. It digs through the building and outside of the place. Osman grips his chest and then his ear piece.

"Hey guys...we got stalks...and I owe the glowies a big favour!"

"Why?"

"Stalk just took out Skorge. I presume he is not dead, but probably is hurt bad. Get my gift?"

"I think so..." said Gyules. In the tunnels, Gyules grabs the Scorcher and pulls the trigger. He would send the flame going and accidentally burn Mora a bit.

"AH! HOT HOT HOT! SO HOT!" she shouted grabbing her burned backside "That really hurt!"

"Sorry...wait I never expected the day to come when I apologize to a Locust." he said "Meh..." Gyules put on the pack, though poorly, then stands next to Mora and begins sweeping the flames over the Locusts coming in. He is walking slowly, using the flames to light the way as he burned Locusts alive. Not as many as he thought were there and before long they were burn to a crisp. Mora would grab Gyules and began leading him through the tunnels.

"We gotta get to the fight, if the Lambent are here, shit has hit the fan!" she said.

"No shit sherlock."

"Who is sherlock?"

"...Nevermind" The two would be navigating the tunnels, while in the fight, most of the Locusts were not fighting each other as Lambent forces were flooding from stalks. Several stalks had risen on the field, two came directly from within the base. A few others had risen in various points around the field. Drudges and drones had come out, which were being easily slaughtered at first, but once a Gunker and a Lambent Berserker arose, they could form their own front. Only one Lambent Berserker would be on the field, and the Gunker would be slaughtering troops nearby with its arm. The Gunker would be cutting through when rockets would go flying into it from the Brumak. The Gunker would prepare and toss a wad of its 'gunk' but would start being shot down by the machine guns. The Berserker would start tearing through the crowd until it hit a rock. It would begin trying to wake at it,but then Aiden would run by to it. He fired his boomshot directly into its exposed chest.

The Berseker would barely react and roared, running at Aiden. Aiden would smile and merely tumble out of its way. It grabbed for him like he was there and turned around to several Boomers who launched their Boomshots into its exposed chest. The Berseker would be harmed and fell back a bit, but yelled and ran at the Boomers. The Boomers could do little to escape as the Berseker ran at one and picked it with both arms, slamming the poor Locust around while its larger tentacle-like limbs would hit and scratch the others nearby. Aiden would grid his teeth and then when it finished killing the Locust, he ran up and slammed a frag grenade into its chest. He would tumble and before the Berseker knew it, it exploded and the Berseker would fall on its back. It began screaming on the ground and light would begin to expel from its face.

"Get into cover! Its going to explode!" he shouted and hit the ground. The berserker exploded, killing the rest of the Boomers. The Lambent were having much difficulties beyond their much larger troops forming a front, as all Locusts focused on them rather than each other. It would not be long before they were removed from the fight and it quickly turned to Locust on Locust. The remaining boomers who were not with Aiden were launching their boomshots into the base, destroying walls and windows and causing the rubble to rain down. Once they were all reloading, the Mortar crews of Skorge began to fire. They loaded their mortars and would fire onto the group. Several Locusts shouted about sky fire and would try to disperse as the mortars rained down, killing quite a few. Their mortar crew responded with firing two mortars within their front and one upon a Brumak that was currently dying. The mortars rained down within and upon the walls, tearing through Locusts and whatnot. Most of them were retreating from outside and firing from the windows now, giving room for Mora's Locusts to start running to the wall and break through the gate.

Locusts would charge at the gate and slam into it, pushing it back, but not breaking through. They would keep ramming as the Brumaks began making their way. Locusts within the windows were firing and throwing everything they have at the Brumaks they had, harming them quite badly. A boomshot would hit the Brumak walking closest to the gate and he would give a final roar before falling forward and onto the gate, just not crushing it. Locusts were smart enough that they were running over him, but were being shot to shit by the Locusts within. The Locusts who had entered the building from the start were mostly dead. Osman would enter the facility rather than use the pariah tank he found and was taking out Locusts on the second story. Tanner had entered via the elevator and was killing them on the top floor, leaving merely the second floor. Osman could not go as fast though, as he is still bleeding quite a bit.

Gyules on the other hand, would escape with Mora, walking into a section meant for housing the soldiers. The area was adorned with corpses of Locusts, and a few were laying against the wall severely wounded. They were on Mora's side.

"Shit..." she said looking it over, feeling saddened.

"This...this bloodshed did not need to occur." she said walking over to the Locust who was dying. She sighed and looked over to him.

"Your sacrifice will not be in vain." she stated with much sorrow in her voice. The Locust would mutter a few things and closed his eyes, dying. She got up and then grabbed his gun. Mora did not seem to care it was a Hammerburst two, she would start running up the stairs and looking for Locusts to start killing. She runs towards some stairs and once up them discovers a makeshift front going on. Three therons on her side and Osman are hiding behind boxes as Locusts are firing at them. One of her Therons would fire a Torque bow shot into a Savage Grenadier and killed him with the explosion, removing much of his chest.

"Just in time for the party." said Osman.

"I got that flamer ready." he said as he got behind a box next to Gyules. Mora would get away a wall across from them with her therons.

"We could use some back up. The majority of their numbers are up here." said Osman.

"We gotta be the ones to push through, otherwise the gunners outside those window will continue to slaughter our men."

"According to Aiden, the outside battle is done and now they are trying to climb over a dead Brumak and get inside, problem is the Brumak's corpse is a killzone.

"Then those gunners are top priority." said Gyules. He would put the Scorcher down and grab the pack. He takes out his pistol and shoots the pack, causing a flame to start coming out. Gyules tosses it over the cover and Locusts begin to shout and duck. It exploded and Gyules does a full mantle over the cover and begins charging into a room with the bayonet aimed out of his retro lancer. Gyules charges into a Locust and brutally stabs into his gut, the blade piercing through him. He throws the Locust off and then as another charged at him he slammed the bayonet into his throat, aiming the Locust at another and firing the gun, holding it to the best of his abilties. The bullets pierced through and destroyed the Locust's skull hitting the one he aimed at and tearing through his flesh. Gyules gets behind the wall by a doorway to the room next to this one. Two locusts are behind a table that is flipped over, one has a lancer. They begin to open fire at the wall, trying to break through the wall. Gyules tosses a grenade behind their cover as he gets behind the wall across from the one he was at. The locust shout grenade and begin to run from it, but it explodes. The two are killed and Gyules takes their table as cover, then reaches and grabs the fallen Lancer.

"Thanks for the gun mofo." muttered Gyules. Mora rushes to him and gets behind the table with him.

"Impressive." she said.

"Thanks." he said. A locust grenadier would shout as he began to charge the cover. Gyules got up with the retro lancer and opened fire at him. The grenadier fired a gnasher shot to his chest plate, but Gyules would kill him. He went behind cover and sighed a breath of relief.

"Theron armour sure is damned protective." he said "But I prefer human armour." he said. Gyules poked his head above the table to observe a Grinder walking in. He said his signature "GRIND!" and would start cranking the Mulcher. Gyules rolls out of cover and towards the doorway. Mora doing the same once Gyules does. The table is destroyed fromt eh bullets and once he stops grinding the two open fire with their weapons, Gyules firing his retro lancer. The inaccuracy causes bullets to hit all parts of it, but mostly hit it. Mora merely aims for his head with her Hammerburst. By the time the Grinder would start grinding again, he fell over dead. Osman would run past them from an open doorway as he leads the Therons down the hall.

"We are falling behind, keep going through the rooms or they are gonna get flanked." said Gyules. He charges into the room the Grinder was in and finds there to be no Locusts. He then begins to charge forward again and begins firing in short bursts his retro lancer at whatever Locust is there, Mora joining him. Tanner is trying to talk to him over the earpiece, but Gyules is busy firing. After killing the Locusts in that room, the two get behind cover and he signals for Mora to be firing as he begins to listen to what Tanner must say.

"What is it Youkahainen?" he asked.

"Its Tanner, and ask Mora if she was to include any Gas Barges."

"Why?"

"Something big is flying from the distance. Giovnni just noticed it through his longshot scope and I saw it as well. Its far away, but its big as hell." said Tanner.

"Just ignore it, if its an enemy Gas Barge our mortar teams will deal with it. I do not believe the Locusts have anything else that flies."

"I dunno man..."  
>"Well, what do you plan to do about it anyways?"<p>

"...Touche motherfucker. Tanner out." Gyules grabs a grenade and looks into the room.

"Chased them off." said Mora "They are all falling back to the stairs." said Mora.

"Then keep firing. Locusts don't surrender so we are gonna have to kill them all and finish off Skorge there. It will be much safer if we let the Locusts flood in and merely keep the pressure here from the stairs."

"Then lets do it! I want to have Skorge's head as a trophy."

" Gonna be some space to keep on ya and we aren't carrying your stuff." said Gyules.

"I know, I thought you were gonna kill me or release me after this." she said.

"We will kill you before releasing you unless it must be done. You are a high value target. Not someone the COG would want dead but soldiers would."

"Wait...why would the COG not want me dead?"

"Line of succession. You would end the war declared on humanity I bet and if you merely inform us of the Lambent we could help kill it! But now is not the time to talk what could have happened. Now is the time to make shit happen!" said Gyules. He rushes to the stairs and as he gets there, the sound of gunfire all stops. The sound of Locusts stomping and trying to run about, Locusts dying, explosions, everything stops.

"Why did it stop?" asked Gyules, turning to Mora. Mora has walked over to a window and seems ready to squeal with joy, like when a fangirl seems what they are a fan of.

"Whats going on man?" he asked as the therons approached the window.

"No idea." Gyules walks over tot he window and sees flying above the Locusts, accompanied by a few Gas Barges, the Locust Queen herself upon the Tempest. She looks over the field and seems utterly disgusted at how they have been infighting. Mora takes off running through the hallways and Gyules begins to chase her. She ignores the fact that he is doing so and runs downstais and through the gates outside.

"Mother!" she shouted as she kept running to her. Mora throws aside the helmet she was wearing.

"Mora!?" shouted Queen Myrrah, astonished, but happy to see her safe. She begins to lower the Tempest to the ground when Skorge jumps from the third floor window. He has repaired his chainsaw staff and he grabs Mora, putting his staff to her throat.

"Skorge..." muttered Myrrah "Release my daughter! I know you had conflicts with myself and her, but that is no reason to lead this feeble movement against me." Skorge seems a bit surprised she knew, but merely growls and begins to activate it. Myrrah shows the same confidence at before.

"And now you put yourself in quite the predicament. See if you let go of her, my Locusts will kill you. Even the ones you thought were on your side, do not seem to retain loyalty." Skorge seems angry and then looks about at everyone. He throws aside Mora and then charges at Myrrah instead. The Locusts are about to fire, but Gyules would charge at Skorge and slam into him, tackling him away and to the ground. Skorge would kick Gyules off and to the ground. Skorge would swing his staff around and slammed it at him, but Gyules would roll to his right. He then stood up wielded his retro lancer. Gyules would swing the bayonet at the staff and cut it in two. Skorge looked over to the two halves of it, but Gyules would merely stab the bayonet into his stomach. Blood would begin to fill his mouth and then he put it away and reved up his Lancer. Skorge swings a staff head at him wearily, but Gyules would block and throw him off, then slammed the chainsaw between his armour and shoulder, cutting through him like he was an average Kantus. Skorge's halves slowly fell over, blood between it stretching and separating. The Locust Pope ha dbeen killed. Gyules turned around to Myrrah, panting a bit and covered in Skorge's blood.

All of the Locusts would aim their weapons at Gyules as he stood up and looked around.

"Well...fuck me." he said putting his hands up.

The End


	11. Chapter 11 Leaving

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 11: Leaving

Gyules looked over at all of the Locusts aiming at him. He was a little scared, but he had confidence. Even moreso than Myrrah did at the moment. He smiled and looked over to Myrrah.

"You do realize, this human just saved your mammal ass." he said.

"But with what intention?"

"A good one, like the one not to kill me or my friends."

"What would that be? What reason could there possibly be not to kill a pathetic human like yourself."

"Life debt is one, but as I know you lack honour, Moragna's life. So she would not run off a chip was implanted in us and a device onto her. If anyone in my squad dies, the device will explode and kill her."

"How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"Wanna take a chance I am bluffing? Use logic, observe her. She is walking around willingly and could shoot me dead right now, but she has not." Myrrah would think on this for a little bit, and then signaled the Locust to stand down. The Locust horde would still be growling at Gyules, completely changed from their once peaceful state to him.

"Then I guess your squad is gonna have to be hostage to us."

"Or we can make a deal. We can get the device off of her and off of us if you let us go free. You get to waste less supplies keeping us alive and just four insignificant humans leave."

"Hmm...I will...accept that deal." said Myrrah. Mora seems thoroughly surprised she is letting them live, but tried not to show it. Her mother could read her emotions well. Gyules would put his hands down.

"We shall tend to this...maybe inside...with less pressure of being shot on sight." sad Gyules.

"Yes, yes, just get this done." Gyules signaled Mora to come with him and he would lead her to the large room where they battled Skorge. Aiden, Osman, and Tanner met up with the two shortly after. Myrrah instructed Locusts to guard the area surrounding the room.

"So...this is it." said Mora "My time with humans is done. Or are you gonna run off with me in some sort of secret passage?" Mora's tone was quite sad. She did not desire to leave just yet...not when there was so much human culture to explore and look at. It was new and exciting, yet she also just liked being with Omega, being with people who she could talk and have nicer conversations, whereas the average Locust was never much for talk or company. She still had a desire to live with her mother once more, but still hoped to be with Omega's squad.

"Can't do that. Instead, I am leaving you with a gift." said Gyules.

"A gift?" Mora would state, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Aiden." he said holding his hand out. Aiden would remove from his backpack several files. Gyules smiled and handed them to her.

"Read these, they talk of Sires."

"Wait...how do you know of the Si- Nevermind." She walks over and places the files on a desk, then walks back to Gyules and hugs him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Gyules gives her a light hug back and she walks over to Osman.

"I am gonna miss ya gal." he said "Do me a favour and at least have fun as Princess while it lasts."

"I will." Mora is to give him a hug but he merely pats her head and messes her hair a little. She walks over to Tanner who is looking at the hole in the floor.

"I am surprised you are going. Thought you would wanna stick with your own species for a while, I had plans for us to snipe Stranded together."

"Tanner, for the last time I am not human." she said laughing a little "I will take you up on the Stranded sniping some time."

"Good, because I discovered a nice little cult that is ripe for the killing!" She gives him a light hug and Tanner smiles.

"Be sure to tell your mother to get that armour knife proof also."

"Why?"

"I got a feeling she will need it." he said and walked to go look for the secret passage, smiling a bit. Aiden would pick up Mora hugging her tightly. The re is a slight crunch sound heard.

"...Ow! No need to be so affectionate Aiden!" said Mora. He dropped her and she would nearly fall over.

"It is always sad when a friend must become an enemy again. I will miss you very much." said Aiden "As long as you are happy though, maybe fate shall bring us together again one day."

"Maybe..." she said.

"Found the switch!" shouted Tanner. Tanner was about to press it when he was startled. The door opened and the guys all had their guns aimed at the door. Myrrah was walking in and she had Therons aiming guns at them.

"Oh, you are not coming to kill us." said Gyules putting his gun away.

"Before you leave, I wished to talk to...the ones who saved me in private."

"Ooh, private audience with the Queen!" Tanner mocked.

"Locusts just love him." teased Osman.

"Tell that to the hundred I have killed." Gyules said as he followed Myrrah. He kept his Lancer ready just in case she was to betray him. Gyules was lead into what was once a bunker for soldiers, already be outfitting for a Queen's chamber.

"You, human...you saved my life." Gyules would sit on one of the beds, arranged to be moved out.

"Why?"

"Because of the damned Lambent. Mora is-"

"Princess Moragna."

"Mora to us. I don't give two shits what you say, she had no problem with it. Anyways, Mora is not ready to lead the Locust against the Lambent and take on your plans. As much as I want your entire species eradicated, if it is done so the Lambent would overthrow everyone. They did not succeed too far in this battle, but they are growing much stronger and evolving. They are the main threat, not you or the humans."

"You say that. You say its for military reasoning, but you are easy to read. There is a bigger reason behind this and I wish to know what it is. Hell, what reason is it you kept Mora alive? While I do care for my daughter, you should have killed her!"

"You are reading me wrong if you think there is a greater reason than that. I kept Mora out of curiosity. Wanted to see what a Locust Princess is like!"

"I assume this is all the answer I shall receive. Nonetheless, I shall just let you know right now though, if your men did any harm to Princess Moragna...I will have each of you hunted down and tortured."

"At most she has a few scars from firefights, a wound that is healing nicely from Imulsion, and a broken fingernail which Is growing back." Gyules muttered a little about how she complained about that a lot.

"I will hold your word to it. Thank you for killing Skorge and goodbye." Gyules gets up.

"We will be escaping this place now. Once the Lambent are dead though, I recommend making peace. There is enough room on the surface now for both of our species." Gyules would get up and walk out as Myrrah dismissed his offer. He walked back to the room and would see Tanner has the tunnel open.

"Well, goodbye now Mora. Take care." said Gyules as he entered and merely walked right past her.

"K, lets go." said Tanner and would begin to lead them through the tunnel. Mora waved to them a little.

"I will miss you guys!" she shouted as the door was closing. Gyules looked back to her making eye contact and both of them blushed. He merely looked away then and would begin marching as the door closed.

"And then there were four. Which squad member is gonna go next! My bet is: Osman!" said Tanner.

"And who is gonna get castrated and forced to eat his own testicles: Tanner!" said Osman.

" So thats your fetish." he said as he lead them through the tunnel.

"Want it to be?"

"Enough of this conversation. It disgusts me." said Aiden.

"Did you ever perform cannibalism as an islander?" asked Tanner.

"During the Pendulum Wars the UIR attacked my island. There were few survivors and they had burned our food, but we barely survived. We ate their bodies with no regrets. A body merely holds the soul and it is but meat when the souls is gone."

"Thats sick man." said Osman.

"Mora used to do so also."

"I remember she told us of that." said Gyules "That girl and her meat."

"She is a carnivore." said Aiden "it is natural." Tanner was to say something, but just decided not to. The tunnel would be darker ahead, but nonetheless still had light, The tunnel seemed to be on its last leg. The supports were cracked and breaking, the interior could be seen of some. Though it was dark, one could roughly see the walls which were purely stone with some design. Every once in a while there would be a faded UIR symbol on them.

"How far do these tunnels go?" asked Gyules.

"Pretty far and its just one tunnel. We used these tunnels for storage and whatnot, but I believe some Stranded were here, probably got to whatever was not under UIR security."

"Well this base is of one strange design. Built into a cliff side, in COG territory, odd layout of rooms. How did we not find this?"

"We merely raised the COG flag over it and reported in as a COG base. Had all of the proper things and merely gave information that we received. I dunno why the design is so weird, but sometimes our bases were a bit fucked up. Doesn't matter now." said Tanner, passionately knowing about his side of the war. He seemed a little saddened, but would return to feeling determined as he marched forward and lead them through.

"Further up ahead are the cages where we kept POWs, which were usually people we requested resources from. Their armour should still be there, should have one in size for you and Osman."

"Finally man." said Osman. Outside of the place meanwhile, Mora is tending to the Tempest as her mother watched. She is scratching its stomach as it lays at its side, its leg kicking a bit as she scratches.

"its so cute Mother! Where did you get this!?" she asked.

"The Tempest is what remains of one of the great Riftworms. It is one of the most powerful beasts ever employed to the Locust arsenal."

"You found Riftworm!? I have been gone for a few months and you finally found that riftworm you were looking for. How is this what is left?"

"The Riftworm was dead in its own slumber. The Tempest was apart of several eggs placed within its flesh and we managed to hatch it, though the other eggs died."

"Oh, its just a baby!" she said. The Tempest got itself upright and she would begin scratching under its chin. The Tempest would stretch its head a bit forward as she scratched, clearly enjoying this.

"No, it had been living within the Riftworm and feeding off of its flesh, but its still growing. Only slowly now. It does have offspring it can produce and we have added to our armies. The humans call them Shriekers."

"Oh, interesting. Any reason you need all of this armour. It seems so uncomfortable for the little guy!"

"its for his own protection. It may be uncomfortable as you say, but you do not want this beast hurt! It is a marvelous creature that will aid us well in our fight against the humans and the infection. With luck we can raise some of its offspring into more Tempest and their power will bolster our ranks."

"The humans are pretty capable though, I am afraid they might figure out a way to kill him even past the armour. Then you may end up in a worse situation than my own." Myrrah glares at Mora and would seem tempted to raise her voice, but merely sighed and sat back down. Myrrah would remove her helmet and set it down.

"Moragna..I know I have not shown you much affection...I have appeared uncaring at times. I just want you to know though, I love you." she said "I was so worried when I was informed you had not reported in. I had parties searching every nook and corner for you and even began searching myself." Myrrah would stand up and was getting teary eyed. Mora would look down, feeling almost guilty. She did not know why she felt guilty, but she did. A few tears filled Mora's eyes. Myrrah walked over and hugged Mora. Mora would be a bit surprised at such a kind gesture, but hugged back.

"You have no idea how scared I was for you. I was scared from the start when my Locusts could not get you a Gas Barge, I was scared. I was going to have you wait, but my message never came in time. I am sorry Mora."

"Its fine mother. I was not harmed, its...everything is good now." she said starting to cry a bit also, caught in the moment. A few drones were watching and the Tempest would growl at them, scaring them off from the moment. The Tempest merely sat down waiting as if it were a dog and waited on them. The two would break off after a bit.

"How long are we staying at this place?"

"A few days is all. These Locusts are going to be getting ready and I am going to get some barges to come by and pick them up. I am impressed you gathered so many to your cause. How did you find them?"

"These were the Locust at New Nexus, they were more than willing to follow me to kill Skorge. They developed land by the ocean and it was being swallowed up, so they were at risk and were not doing so well. I promised they could have Skorge's base. Once in your presence, they could not resist to obey though." explained Mora.

"I am proud of your negotiation skills." Myrrah would smile. "I am going to relax. Its been a while since I could sleep with ease and without fear." she said smiling.

"Take care." said Myrrah and would begin tending to the Tempest. Mora would walk upstairs and towards the area she already set up as her room. It was Skorge's previous room, in the captain's office. A king-sized human mattress had been moved into the room and was sitting on the floor. It was stained with blood, but she did not mind. The chair was shoved into a corner, but a desk still remained at its place with a computer smashed on the floor. The mattress had white blankets on it which were slightly torn. She merely sat on the bed and sank into a little. The bed was fairly soft for times like now.

"Odd Skorge resorted to such a human item to sleep on, yet he never did have an extreme hatred of them. Just of everyone..." she thought to herself. Mora grabbed from the desk the files Gyules gave her. She had sitting on the desk the picture of her and Gyules in a picture frame that once belonged to the captain. The glass was shattered out of it, but nonetheless it was there.

"Lets see what the fuss is about..." she muttered as she opened the files. She would begin reading documents and a photograph fell out. Mora picked it up and looked at it. The picture depicted a child Myrrah being held in the arms of a scientist, while two Sires sit in the back behind glass. Printed underneath it is: "Myrrah, Age 3 with parents Sire E355 and Sire E472." No year is written though. She would begin reading over the information in the first part of it, quite eagerly. Meanwhile, Gyules and his squad had found the area for POW. The area has four cells built with two built into each side of the wall. The bars are rusted to shit and inside remain skeletons of the COG troops captured, not one making it out of the forgotten tunnel.

"So you guys just captured men who came to give you supplies?" asked Osman.

"Just anyone who began to notice. We should have killed them, but the boss merely said to capture them. He liked having them, made him feel powerful."

"Odd." said Osman as he looked to a skeleton in the cage. Osman would looked at the lock.

"Anyone got a pick?" Gyules walks over and kicks the door in. It fall into the place and breaks off a hinge. It then falls off completely. He smiles and then the two walk to the armour.

"Good shit the COG uses, this stuff hasn't rusted much." said Osman picking up a corpse with basic COG armour on. Gyules grabs one with older armour and drags it out.

"We shall change in the cells. Check for anything useful in the area also." commanded Osman.

"I will see what they added. I wasn't here the last two years of the Pendulum Wars after all." said Tanner and walked off to look for things with Aiden. Gyules and Osman removed the Theron armour with ease and threw it aside, but would go through the process of putting on COG armour. It did not take long, just had to get the seals right. The two would be out quickly and walked over to Aiden and would flip a light switch and expose a garage. Within the garage were three APCs used by the COG long ago. They were rusted a bit. The paint was fading and chipping.

"I will begin checking if any o them are working or can be repaired." said Osman and ran over to them.

"See how fast they can go!" shouted Gyules.

"Why do you care about speed?" asked Tanner "Are you planning...what I think you are planning."

"I dunno, I cannot read your mind."

"You are going to kidnap Mora." said Aiden "I must advise you not to."

"Why do you think I will do this...just because I asked if they can go fast. I want her dead! Luckily she was a good bargaining tool."

"Stop the act, I know the nights and times you talked with her. I will let you know I am all for this as well! We have to keep the series going! Otherwise the writer will have to get a life, go outside, do that kind of shit! No one wants to endure through that!"

"...Going outside is scary?"

"Well nowadays it is.." Gyules is about to say something mean, but since Tanner is on his side he figures its best not to. He has no idea what he is talking of, no one does, but they will deal with it. They begin to hear Osman digging through the APCs.

"I am gonna have to snag parts from others, but I can get one of them working!" he said. "Then Gyules can take Mora and we can drive away quick enough to dodge the Locust, as long as that bug thing does not kill us."

"It appears to have no weaponry, so we should be safe. It has something else, but as far as I know we should be fine if it attacks." said Gyules "Though I am going to take her back. I will go at night and search the base, I will bring the duct tape, and sneak her here and we shall flee before anyone knows. If anyone does know...well...I will figure something out."

"You sure?" asked Tanner "How are you gonna find her in there?"

"I will check the room. I got a knife ready and I can take down and hide Locusts." said Gyules "I am pretty sure she is in the Captain's office or something. Either she will be there or Myrrah, but somewhere on the second or third floor."

"So you have no real plan other than a hunch. This is gonna go great!" said Tanner.

"No time for sarcasm now." said Gyules.

"No I am serious, I know you will find her. So it should go great." Gyules glares at him a little, a bit confused how he knows and what he is talking about. He is about to say something but merely says "Right".

"I will support you at least." said Aiden.

"I will drive!" said Osman.

The end


	12. Chapter 12 Origins

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 12: Origins

Omega Squad would have slept the night in the tunnels, as they were a relatively safe area. If Skorge's locusts had not found it, then Myrrah's Locusts had scarce a chance to. The only fear was if Mora told on them, which caused them to take turns with one on guard. Gyules took the longest turns as he spent the time thinking. He was analyzing from his memory of what he had seen and how to get through. Myrrah would be storing as many as she could within it and probably those tunnels Skorge was building, but a fair majority was sleeping outside in the rain. It could be heard pouring overhead, making it all the more easier to sleep.

Mora had read all of the files that were there, staying up most of the night. Much of them were incomplete, a little note left by the squad apologized as this was all they could get past the COG's security. She had been shocked and disturbed by this, her mind trying to wrap itself around the information. Would explain how they found their home. Explained how the Locusts did not value their own history among other details. She had, for the first time, confidence to stand up to her mother and ask about this. To find out the details the New Hope Research Facility.

She would gather all of info and papers into the folder, though attempted to get them into a proper order and whatnot. Once they were ready she would walk down the hallway, though had a bit more of a purpose. She was more confident, though angry, enough so that passerby Locusts turned their heads towards her. Locusts who had gone through Nexus knew Mora well, usually being a bit more shy. She would walk out of the building and towards an area her mother had set up with several Locusts. The local leaders of the new additions and several palace guards, were discussing various plans and routes. What to do with these new Locusts. A map of the local area was laid out in front of them.

"Mother, I need to talk to you!" said Mora.

"Mother is busy dear, you know that."

"NOW!" her shout startled the Locusts and even Myrrah, losing her guard quickly, but regained composure just as quickly. She looked over to her.

"Moragna! I am busy with planning our movements. This area will not be safe for long with the Lambent."

"I have to ask you about something." said Mora walking closer to her.

"The New Hope Research Facility." Myrrah's eyes grew wide and this time and she would signal Mora to follow. She was lead into the facility and into the Captain's room where Mora had been staying in.

"What do you know of that place? Why do you know of it?" she asked. Mora handed her the file.

"I received this, from the humans. A parting gift from them." Myrrah opened it and began to skim through the information. She pulled out an old photograph and looked at it.

"So you constantly belittle humans, but there is this bit of information in hand." Myrrah muttered a few things and would stop skimming, knowing the rest of it. She set it on the desk and merely held a photograph.

The photograph depicted Myrrah at her eleventh birthday. Several Locusts, though their appearance was a bit different from now, were in the back and a few attending. Some researchers were there as well, all of them around her cake. She began to remember about that day.

Rather than the usual testing and observing of the lambency in her imulsion cells, this day was different. The scientists were throwing Myrrah her own party, something she had yet to experience, due to Niles arguing how messy it was and how it could violate security. Him and a few other more dedicated scientists. Luckily they finally managed to convince him, as he began feeling the need to lighten up. Myrrah had listened to so many people complaining about him and his need for cleanliness and security. He had all security guards replaced with far powerful turrets. Some mentioned janitors had been killed by the turrets and were constantly quitting as they were overworked.

She had been told to enter the inner cafeteria early in the day, so she did. She opened to the door to see the lights were off. She reached over and turned on a light as five scientists popped out from behind areas with party hats on, shouting "Surprise". Hanging from the ceiling was a banner saying "Happy Birthday" and several balloons were within the room. A few gifts were upon a table in a bag or wrapped in some bland paper. She would look around the room, a bit confused.

"What is occurring?"

"Its a party, eleven years ago you were born." said Dr. Ruften, the man who usually dealt with her injections and making sure they were safe. He was always a protective man, but not just of Myrrah but of all of the human subjects. Did not care much for the Locusts or Sires formed though.

Two Locusts, other two that were being primary test subjects with her walked out from behind a table and a pillar. One of the Locusts retained the skin of a drone and the claws, but his body was of lighter build. The top portion of it was still a bit thick from Sire genes. His teeth were still human, but the canines had grown sharper. His face was that of a human though, eyes gold though. The three long bits of flesh that come out o a Sire's back are sticking from his, but a big shorter.

The other Locust was becoming taller in build and far more slim. His body was gray, but lacked the quality of a Locust's skin. His fingers long and red with large claws coming from them though. His feet were the same as a Kantus and his face was that of a Kantus, though his eyes were still blue. He was not quite as Kantus height or as thin as one, but was on his way.

"Oh, you guys were supposed to say surprise." said a researcher.

"It is our first...'party'" said the second Locust, his voice higher and more screech like. When he talked, one could observe a second mouth within his own. The first drone nodded, preferring to not speak. Tyran was difficult for him to make out the words to, he could so, but it was difficult, could only make out a simple sentence at most times.

"Why are you celebrating that? Its the same day after the planet has made a full revolution? I do not see the point."

"We really need to get the kid to lighten up." said Dr. Yezin, a laid back scientist who did not act like he belonged at a facility, but was the top researcher in the effects of Imulsion in creatures. "She talks so fancy like and whatnot, forgets she is human."

"She isn't human. She is something more, Nonetheless, this is something humans like to do. Celebrate this day, you are now eleven years old." stated Ruften, walking to her.

"I should receive this when I have done well in your research, my studies, or I do something much more pleasing. Not for a day."

"Its a reward for surviving that time. Now come on, we got the party set up. We got human games and whatnot." The games were left over from Dr. Ruften's child's party. A few others had minor things. Much of the time they had difficulty getting Myrrah to do these things, and she would think of how illogical they were, but enjoyed herself actually. After the games, she was to finally have her cake. The lights would be turned off and a female scientist would walk in with a cake.

"Made it myself." she said happily as she would begin walking in. The cake was red velvet with white frosting on it. She placed it in front of younger Myrrah and then Dr.. Yezin would put in the candles.

"Another human tradition. We put in candles pertaining to how old you are, then light them and sing the birthday song. Once its done, make a wish and blow them out."

"Wishes are illogical, how does just blowing out candles do that?"

"Err...magic! It comes true, always. Maybe just in time though of course!" Yezin would light a match and light each candle once they were in. The people and the Locusts would sing the Tyran birthday song to her. Myrrah felt quite special at that time, it felt nice to have everyone sing and see them care. Even the locusts tried, though their singing was not too great, more of a nuisance.

"What do I wish for?" asked Myrrah, trying to think.

"Whatever you desire. It will come true. It could be to have a sandwich tomorrow, to have a million dollars." said Ruften, standing right by her.

"You could wish to be a pretty pretty princess!" said Yezin. A few of the guys would laugh as she thought.

"No...I am gonna be more than a princess." she thought to herself and would then blow out the candles. She would stop remembering and looked over to Mora, sighing as she had to confess.

"Well!? What is New Hope!?"

"New Hope was a human facility, the place where I was born and where the Sires were created. The Horde does not originate underground, it was created...by humans." Mora seems a bit shocked to have her admit it, she did not expect her to say this so easily. The documents basically told her so, but it was proof when her mother said so. She was as old as when the Horde started.

"The Locusts started as Sires who were humans, mutated by imulsion. Often times they were forced to the facility, though sometimes volunteers or prisoners were injected and forced to mutate. The humans were trying to study them and find a cure to the infection, the early scientists who knew the evils of imulsion before anyone else were desperate. They had many programs and the Locusts formed from the breeding program. They were...flawed, at first, most of them."

"I assume you were born from that program? Why is it we look so human anyways!? It bothers me. Makes the entire damned war feel wrong."

"The war is necessary, without it we would have had to leave so many Locusts behind and war would have occurred sooner or later. Look at the history of the Serans history and nature of the Serans. Their entire history is war and killing each other. Many times for minor differences or out of the other just having something desired! They do not care who they step on or who they harm, they are all just clawing to rise above the other."

"So based on what you think would occur you dedicated your people, _our_ people to killing this species had no part in our conflict. You are doing exactly as you described! You are stepping on them for us to get to our place. There is no way you can justice this mother! You have started a war that should never have occurred."

"The war is occurring because we were losing! As much as you want to think it was going well, that we were still cutting down their numbers, we were not! We were trying to hold them back and defend. Do not compare them to me as I did try to stop the war. I took measures, I gave birth to you in case something would happen to me so you could lead, I asked Adam Fenix to aid us five years prior, I did everything I could! Invading the surface was the only answer!"

"Why not just defend and wait for Adam to finish it? Why not ask the humans for help!?"

"Adam was taking far too long and I was getting desperate. It was either to invade the surface while they were weak, or get killed by the Lambent, so I invaded. RAAM plotted out E-day for it and I gathered an army along with breeding many war beasts. What are you expecting me to say? That I regret my decision? I would have made this decision a thousand times over. You should know better than to question me! What have those humans taught you!?"

"Do not blame humanity, they just taught me that people should be able to think for themselves and realize no one true person is always correct. Even you can be wrong mother!"

"One can think for themselves, but you should not question your leadership. The underlings need guidance and you are not ready to be providing that. Certainly now you have proven yourself far too young to comprehend that tough decisions must be made at times! Not everyone can survive, not all war can be avoided, and sometimes there is no correct choice." Mora would sigh, feeling stupid for having argued with her mother. As much as she wanted to oppose the war, she wanted to believe that there was a way around it, whenever her mother talked to her she could not help but agree. She still had one last argument.

"Why not just ask them to help us?'

"I tried." Mora sat on her bed.

"What do you mean you tried? Did they say no?"

"No, while with Adam I was able to present Locusts to, I could not manage to talk to Prescott. I tried to make to him without an escort and they did not believe I was a Locust, they did not even know what they were. Humans threatened to lock me away. I tried to bring Locusts in a discrete way to the humans. Even as we waved a white flag, they got scared and fired shots. I issued them to fall back and we were never able to talk to him."

"So they fired on us first?"

"Yes, I pity them for it, as those shots lead to their demise. Those few humans killed their entire race." said Myrrah. Mora sighs.

"Well, at least tell me a bit more on how the Locusts came to become, well, Locusts." Myrrah would look over to her, and decided to sate her curiosity. Figured it might help restore some trust as Mora was becoming rebellious. She hated it, but figured it was necessary. After all, when Myrrah was rebellious, it caused her to become queen.

"There is not more to say. The humans breed and altered the genetics of the sires. The goal of the project altered once a doctor named Niles took over. That human had an obsession with security and cleanliness, even above his own job, but he believed the sires could be altered and made into humans immune to the effect of imulsion."

"How did he plan to do that? If you were already mutated?"

"His plans were unclear from what I got to read, but through manipulating genes formed from the Imulsion and those who had been resisting it more than others, he figured he could breed out the natural resistance until the human was immune. Then just get a sufficient amount of humans like so to enter the population and spread their genetics to the kids of the future. With hope no one would go lambent."

"Are you-"

"I am immune to the infection as you should be as well. It is still not a safe substance to be around, but nonetheless."

"How old are the locusts really? I have never even known your age and well..." Mora would stop herself there before she said anything wrong. When it came to looks, her mother never enjoyed her opinion. She had already had her people working on a new set of armour for Mora. Mora needed to look nice, command control over the Locusts, though Myrrah feared Mora would never.

"I am perfected to live quite longer and age less, a beneficial gene from Locust DNA. The Locusts as a species are as old as I am, I am ninety six, yet the locusts are only eight decades now. Thanks to my leadership and knowledge of genetic breeding, the Locusts grew up quicker and spread quickly throughout the Hollow, proving the dominant species. Two decades in, our kingdom was a primitive form of what it was when it was last sunk."

"Oh...damn." said Mora, at least glad the Locusts do good work and vastly surprised at her mother's age. Humans aged far quicker than she did.

"Now I am going to work on getting us out. You have delayed me too long." Myrrah would walk out of the room and back to the commanders. Mora merely sat within her room, thinking about this and feeling a bit shocked. Most of the shock she endured through the night, but could not believe it. The 'superior race' she was princess of, was nothing more than imulsion evolved humans. Who somehow became reptiles, but were still her people. It was an understandable lie, though she did not like being lied to all these years, if the species found out...

The results would be disastrous. Their morale would go down much more and realizing lies like so would a few or even many turn on Myrrah. If she was still ruler while they knew she wondered how their behavior would change. Mora could not predict, she knew little on psychology and Locusts, though hive minded, were individuals. They all had their own names and lives, just devout and obedient most of the time. It is those who are smarter who become therons and rise to palace guards and even generals if done properly. She sighed and would lay in her bed thinking on this much deeper.

Myrrah meanwhile would quickly wrap up the plans. She had issued that they shall rest there since the Palace Guard admitted that the ride was tough. So she told them they could rest. The new year was coming soon and she had a plan she would need to tend to. These were just the troops required and had more back at Endeavor shipyard. Her troops there were preparing vessels as they had been on the trail of a human refuge. A few reavers had been sent out in the past week as she left. Last she received information of, one of the Reavers died trying to investigate some sort of hurricane. The others are curious, but investigating other areas. Myrrah would walk to the private quarters she had set up outside in a tent. The locusts carried items on their barge so she could have a room set up.

Myrrah had the files from Mora and would enter the room and started to read. She was remembering things from her past and would be doing this for a while. Normally she would not, but she had nearly forgotten her childhood. She felt as though this would work for some adequate personal time as Moragna would suggest at times, before she was taken. She claimed to have read in some human novel how damaging stress is and that being a leader is one of the stressful jobs out there. Myrrah opened the file and grabbed a random photograph. It was a photograph depicting Niles being scared over a 'mess' created by a Sire as they were taking it to testing.

It was six months after she had her birthday. Myrrah was being taught the trade of genetics by the scientists, proving to have much higher intellect than most humans. She comprehended much more and much quicker than people would. She was looking at a chart in front of a stasis tank, charts were in front of all of them. The chart contained their name and a list of notable genetics in them, which ones are dominant in this case and which are not dominant but still there in minor amounts.

"See, now this one is bigger than others. He is almost turning fat, but that is not from eating as much as he consumes, but its natural weight and size as the imulsion is forming within him. His claws are not as sharp, but his brain is a bit underdeveloped. He cannot think as well." explained Dr. Ruften "Now, if you wanted these genes spread, who would you breed him with?"

"What about Big Ruth? She contains genetics slightly like so. As a female she is still exhibiting the tremendous size, advanced strength, and blindness."

"I was going to walk you to there to look...but you impress me!" he said smiling. Yezin would run over to the two, with a big grin on his face.

"What did you do?" asked Ruften, looking annoyed.

"One of the sires is do for testing with Niles. I gave it laxatives beforehand to freak out that clean bastard!"

"...I do not understand how you got a job here."

"At least I do not live here and I dare to have a good time! You are making the girl plain and boring! Soon she is gonna only talk in propaganda and hate humanity for the boringness you presented!" Ruften shakes his head and face palms. Yezin would bend down to get to Myrrah's height.

"You wanna explore the world right? See what is out there? Right?"

"No. I am content in my home down here, with my fellow Locusts."

"Locusts?"

"That is what I call them as they evolve. They breed enough to create many and if we let them run like so, they will be capable of swarm tactics for prey. Locusts do the same thing and always have another to replace their lost. Though of course with their tough skin and superior strength, once developed into a proper body size, these species will be superior on average to humans physically."

"...I will be sure to never insult Locusts or you now...or give them any laxatives. Just do not start war with humanity, or at least do not kill me."

"I make no promises." she teased. Ruften smiled, enjoying how she scared Yezin, but did not figure her of any violent tendencies. Yezin was to walk away, when he would see Niles walking with a Sire behind him. The sire was in chains and being lead with food, though security escorted it. The sire would be walking and following until it shouted a bit and bent over. Myrrah would turn around and Ruften would lead her away. Yezin took a picture with a camera from his pocket.

Niles was urging everyone he could to get it cleaned. He was rather pale and sweating now. He had an extreme hatred of filth. By the time the janitor was coming to clean it, Niles passed out. Yezin would be laughing quite hard.

"The poor Locust."

" Hmm?"

"The poor locust he just tortured to get a laugh. One should not harm these creatures for their own amusement. We should not even lock them up."

"Its dangerous Myrrah! I know you may be the child of these creatures, but they are savage and primal. They are not all smart enough to go without being locked up. They will kill you as well as us."

"They will not harm me."

"You do not know that and I am not going to risk it! Do not perform anything rash Myrrah!" Ruften was getting a bit annoyed at how confident she was she would survive. He was concerned for her like a parent was for a child who wanted to enter the Lion's den in the zoo. Its fun and the lions are cute, but not safe. Only sires are not cute. Myrrah sighed and seemed unfazed by his yelling.

"I shall not risk it for your sake, but I can prove it. Now, what other task do you have for us to do? To aid my education?"

"Well, you are surpassing most of what I got, so I believe I have work to actually attend to that you will not be needed for. It would bore you and you have learned all you can." Ruften was merely to examine the imulsion in the creatures and see how they were reacting to injections of imulsion and removal of certain parts that were mutated by imulsion. It varied, but it was all usually the same everyday.

"I recommend playing one of those games or books we got you."

"I shall do so later, I believe I shall go converse with the Locust." Myrrah would stop remembering, it was a pointless thing to remember at the moment, but it was just one of the many moments that happened at the lab. Thats how it usually was everyday, Ruften acted as sort of a father figure for her. He never liked to leave the lab, always stayed there and researched. She never knew the complete reason, but inferred that he did not exactly have much to go home to. He just would work until he fell asleep at his desk. Whens he was older she would sometimes carry him to his bed.

Eight years later the facility closed though. They had begun to suffer a lack of funding from the COG as they dug deeper into the war. Myrrah was enough success for a while, but as they could not produce another one of her and she refused to breed, so they were not producing results. There was problems also with people who were attacked and those who leaked some information. It was enough that Chairman Monroe personally arrived.

The Chairman marched through the place with his personal guard following him. They were two strong large strong soldiers who seemed capable of taking on armies. They were menacing as can be. The Chairman had walked up to Niles personally who was accompanied by several other people.

"I do not like what is being done here Niles." said Monroe, being direct and brash.

" I do not like it at all. These...creatures...they are a threat and serve us no purpose. I have read the reports of their savageness."

"The children are not savage. They are vital test subjects, a bridge to our future."

"How?"

"They are the future."

"I would rather be a UIR prisoner than let the future be these ugly things. I have read over your plans many times. I do not believe they are the best focus right now."

"Umm...did you wish to explore the facility and possibly see our work for yourself?" asked Ruften.

"I had several of your employees walk about with cameras so I could see what happens here. It is not enough work, its the same thing on all of the cameras I got from people! Where is the progress!?"

"It is getting there, just...well its-"

"Its a damned waste of the COG's money and is making us look back. People are becoming afraid Imulsion is gonna turn you into a scary mofo like these things! You know damned well if the public knew of all of these creatures they would have my head and all of yours." Myrrah steps out into sight towards the Charimen. He turns around to her and looks her over, smiling as he looks at her figure.

"Sir, I do not know who you are, but you have no right to shut us down! The Locusts deserve life just as you humans deserve it, if not more." she said "While it would be wise if humanity did not know of us, as I know how violent your kind is, and how scared you are of what is new to them, it is inhumane to do this."

"Who might you be you pretty little thing?" asked Monroe, walking towards her.

"I am Myrrah and I am one of these creatures you mock and treat like scum. They have a proper name." Monroe would look at her, looking over her figure and then to a sire.

"You should make all of them like this."

"We cannot...she is...well...unique." said Ruften "We have been trying, but its quite difficult when we had to put down her parents. They attacked a scientist." Yezin nudges him in the side, it was not wise to say so.

"I do not care, you should have spoken of her more in reports. I will give you limited transport and you shall transport whatever subjects you find valuable to Mount Kadar."  
>"Mount Kadar!?" shouted several of the researchers in unison "That is a difficult trip! We have a lot of people to transport, but many of these men go home to families and have lives outside of here!"<p>

"Take whoever is willing to come! I am have all information of this made classified and we are covering up this project. Mount Kadar is the perfect place to hide this, where the UIR cannot get to you, the public will not search, and underneath the Mountain are the Hollows where you can set up your work. Some people used to live there and have boat rides in there, you can set up shop in those buildings. You are to leave in three days."

"This is outrageous! You are overthinking this, we have so much sensitive information and supplies we need here. We could almost never continue!" complained Yezin stepping in front of the scientists who were already preparing to get things packed. He would step so he was face to face with Monroe.

"We are saving humanity, if the Imulsion did this to these people, imagine what it could to others. Its a fucking dangerous substance and volatile substance. We have no idea what it could do, but its doing terrible things to living organisms. When all of the humans on Sera are dealing with this, we need something to fix it!"

"And if you do not, I will get someone else on it. Someone who is better at their job and doing different programs. Now get back to your work."

"If you guys are going to be controlling us like so. I am not going to work for you anymore. I am gonna go do my own private research."

"You are not permitted to take any of this information with you off the premises." said Niles.

"I have done so before! COG's damned rules get in the way." he said and walked out.

"Well, with that I am off." said Monroe "Good day to you all. Anyone who is left behind here shall be arrested for life. Clean up all evidence of experiments or lock it away!" Monroe would turn around and began to walk out of the place. Myrrah would watch him walk out and would follow him. One of the laborers, the men who just lifted things and operated machinery, would start walking beside him and handed him a clipboard.

"So how are these...Locusts, coming."

"Exactly as we are planning. They have not been able to make another Myrrah and they are being breed to be more obedient and stronger. If anything, this next batch they take along should be prime soldiers. Testing them in Mount Kadar should see if they are ready."

"Perfect, with this we can defeat the UIR and show our superiority."

"Myrrah is the only problem, I shall arrange to kill her on the way. She has been...she is proving to be a leader of some sort of them. She is uniting them and even proved that the Sires are not entirely savage."

"How far is she controlling them?"

"They respect her, but we can still make them follow the COG soon. Take her out. Saddens me a little, I read good things on her, she looks better than the girls I get after work. Oh well though." Myrrah would glare at him and would run off. She was to inform the Locusts of what they had planned, and was going to start organizing them. This was her chance to be free of the humans and finally take her place, as Queen.


	13. Chapter 13 Formation

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 13: Formation

Three days later, the lab would have been prepped to be left behind. The COG originally going to specifically tear it down, but were convinced to leave it standing. Niles prepped a security system and a semi sentient AI system based on his own personality to monitor it. Make sure anyone who comes by to reactive it has clearance. With proper clearance it is assured that they know what they are getting into.

The Sires locked away in Stasis would be the ones left behind. To save power for the stasis tanks as many systems as could be were shut down. Really the only three things on were the turrets, AI system, and Stasis tanks. Enough supplies was left behind to last the Sires and facility for near a century.

The COG had given them little transport. Merely a few packhorses, enough for the scientists. The Locusts would have to walk on food, guarded by the Onyx Guard. They would specifically have to take a longer route so no one would spot the Locusts, and make the trip before morning, as they were traveling at night. It was lucky as there was a passage to the Hollow from here that would lead them under the mountain. The group would not have to brace the cold, in which they had not been exposed to the cold yet. Right now some of the laborers were packing machinery onto a Packhorse. Myrrah was talking to a group of three Locusts, specifically Boomer brothers. She was assuring them that they would be alright. The Boomers could not speak well, but did seem to try and smile as she talked with them and did her best to make them feel good.

One of the Boomers would grab her and hugged Myrrah. Her back cracks a little and she is in pain, but merely instructs him that he can let her go as she spies the others coming near. Myrrah would be let down and Ruften would be walking over.

"Myrrah, I need to speak with you...away from your friends." A Boomer would step forward, growling a bit. The others woulds step forward, ready to hurt him.

"Let this occur." she said turning to the Boomers "I will be fine." They stepped down as she said so. Ruften seemed a bit confused at their behavior towards her, but would dismiss it from his thoughts and lead her away. Ruften would lead her through their warehouse and to a room designed to look like an office. It was once an important lab room, but they started a facade.

"Myrrah..." He sighs, doing a trademark sigh of his that Myrrah is used to. She thought of it as the Ruften sigh.

"Yezin is dead." She raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.

"He died?"

"Shot in the head, news will not admit it, I think Monroe had it ordered." said Ruften.

"Monroe is evil you know. He-"

"Yeah, I know he wants to use the Locusts. I am still skeptical, but Myrrah...you are not sad?"

"I am saddened, but I shall not show the emotion. When I am in my private quarters or among my loved ones I shall show so, but the Locusts are about. So this is the most I shall say." She would begin walking away. Myrrah was indeed saddened by him dying, not as saddened as if he were a Locust, but she still grew up with him around for much of her life. He tried to teach her to act much more 'fun' as he called it. Moreso he just spent most of the time bothering Ruften, acting like him and Ruften were married and Myrrah was their daughter, and messing with people. He even taught her how to make snow angels and snow balls, which they proceeded to throw at people, specifically Niles. They had to stop when one of the snowballs hit a woman's cleavage and she yelled at the both of them. It was still a fun time. She sighed and would walk over to the transports. To speed up the process, she asked the Locusts to help, of whom would willingly aid at her command.

Once they finished packing, the scientists would get into the vehicles and Ruften would open the door of his packhorse so she could ride shotgun.

"I am not going to ride with you."

"Its a long walk...you sure?"

"I am a Locust, so I am going to face the same treatment as a Locust gets. If you want me to ride with you, get a ride for them all." Ruften sighs and closes the door. She was stubborn as ever. The Onyx Guard would shout at the Locusts to march, of whom would start marching. The scientists were taking seven Packhorses, and most of the Locusts were marching out of the facility, their numbers being six hundred. Mostly comprised of Drones, but also had Kantus', Boomers, and quite the fair amount of Berserkers. The Berserkers were in chains as they marched, and soldiers kept flamethrowers on them for if a Berserker gets angry.

The walk was almost like a death march. The Locusts marched along the harsh path. It followed what was barely a road. It was an unmaintained dirt road. The ground was bumpy from many rocks on the ground and seemed to curve in many unnecessary ways. Where it will take a u-turn to just go around a rather large rock or boulder. Several times there would be an obstruction and the Locusts would have to solve it. It would be either a fall tree, or the ground would be too steep for the packhorses and they would need to pull it over, as they got farther ahead larger rocks had fallen that had to be removed.

The unity of the Locusts, among their different levels of intelligence and strength were proving quite interesting to the Onyx Guard. They specifically had it so the creatures do not have transportation, to observe how well they work. Their abilities, a basic test. They were proving quite powerful. Course now that they saw how they worked together, they had something else to test.

As they cleared a rock, a drone would fall over and bump into an Onyx Guard. The Guard push him away and the Locusts would tumble back a bit. The Guard aimed his gun at the drone.

"Do not attack me! You know the rules." The rule was that if one touched a guard, they were to be executed. The drone would growl a bit and would state: "Hostile." The human fired at him and the Locusts would dodge a bit and charged into him, knocking the guard to the ground. The Locusts would begin punching him and even while armoured, the Onyx Guard was taking damage and shouting at him to stop. Myrrah would notice the guards were aiming guns. The Locust would grab his arm and start to pull.

"STOP!" Myrrah commanded over the Locust. The drone let go of him and looked over to all of the guards aiming guns at him. He put his hands up and Myrrah ran as quickly as she could to the creature.

"Do not harm this creature. He was provoked, this human threatened him and primal instinct took over. His life does not need to be taken or harmed because of such actions!"

"Move aside!" said a guard, walking over. Myrrah is shoved over and the Locust is hit with the butt of his gun. She begins to get up, only to see him shooting the drone. He fired the normal amount to kill a human, noticed he was still alive and gurgling a bit, then fired more into his body until he was dead. His blood had splattered onto Myrrah. Her eyes were wide and she clamoured to his corpse, looking at him and seeing he is dead. She sighed and closed his eyes, then stood up.

"Do that again and you shall be like him." threatened the guard who shot him. She glared at him and they would continue their march. The Onyx Guard did not have too many more things to test during the route, so they went without much troubles. They would arrive at Mount Kadar shortly after, finding there to be a large cave entrance.

"Through here?" Myrrah asked a guard.

"No, we are going to fucking go somewhere else that the road has not been leading to."  
>"Hmmm...whats your name?"<p>

"Viljo Tanner, why?"

"No reason." They would walk through the cave, the head Packhorse leading through the tunnel, which did not change at size at all as they went through. The cave was near fourty feet high, if not higher. It was quite dark in there, but after traveling a bit through the dark, they would walk through to find a large underground lake, with water being flooded in by a waterfall farther off.

"Damn..." said a scientist walking out.

"This is damned huge..." said another. They would be looking at the immense size of it, but Myrrah was looking across from the point they entered, an old stone dock was there.

"What is across the river?" she asked.

"An old dock, a bunch of people at one point tried to settle into the Inner Hollow during the Age of Armageddon."

"What happened?"

"I dunno, no one human has ever succeeded in settling the Inner Hollow, I just know it was reported that they left once they had troubles with the local wildlife." said Tanner "They had little security and were attacked by these screeching little apes. Then they had their technology eaten by these ticking creatures. Supposedly a few other weird things got to them, but they just could not survive. We are prepared for them."

"Good." said Myrrah. She would begin to walk away and the Locusts would start setting up machinery and the scientists set up tents. Myrrah would walk over to the tents, but witnessed a drone trying to get a bed down from one of the Packhorses specifically meant to carry supplies. She would rush over and helped him get it down. She helped the drone carry it to the location, letting him lead. He placed it within a tent and nearly fell over from exhaustion.

"Lay down and rest. You have earned it and few will blame you." she said. The Drone would argue normally as they would be harmed for not working, but instead he would climb into the bed. She smiled and would go retrieve him a blanket and placed it over the creature. She smiled and would walk out to see two Onyx Guards who appeared upset.

"I am giving him a break, he is of no use when tired like so." said Myrrah.

"That thing needs to continue working."

"How about you two work instead or maybe I will tell your sergeant that you two are loafing about!" she said with her voice growing louder, the sergeant walking past them. The two looked at each other and seemed angry at her, walking off to go gather more items. It would not be long after until they finished setting up the area. The Locusts were tired and many were sitting against walls or laying on the ground. The route was tough, though they prevailed. Myrrah was not as tired as the others, as she did not do as much work as the others did removing obstacles and setting up as much. She still was sitting on a bed designated for her. She would use the bed, so she could have a little comfort. She laid down upon the bed and looked up. It was not as comfortable as the one she had at the facility, but Yezin had donated the mattress. It was from his guest bedroom, but he never had guests stay the night so he figured it would be nicer.

She was saddened he had died. That the damned COG had murdered him, she knew it. He had that outrage in front of Monroe, and while no one admitted it, everyone knew he was responsible for the information leak. He could never keep a secret and took any chance he could to spread awful things on the COG. Yezin merely stayed with them as he believed they would come out superior in the Pendulum Wars and its never wise to be on a losing side in war. No matter how fascist the the winner is. She fell asleep, thinking about Yezin and his antics.

Myrrah would awaken a few hours later, out of her bed and on her knees. Her hands were tied behind her back and a cloth was tied over her mouth. She was in the Guard's tent with three guards. Two of them would be talking with each, while Tanner was walking up with a pistol that had a silencer on it. His helmet was removed, revealing him to be a Gorasni, rare to find one as a soldier in the COG.

"Hey sleepy head, you finally woke up." She would protest into the cloth and attempt to shout for help. He smiled, finding it almost cute how she still fights.

"Yeah, I much prefer my victims to see me before I kill them. Cannot always happen, but I do so when I can. Its more polite, not like damned snipers who people never see coming." He would take out a pistol and screw a silencer on it. Myrrah was sweating quite a bit, she was frightened, she was going to die. She never thought she would die like this, probably how Yezin went. To this damned human. She shivered a bit and a few tears went down her face.

"I almost feel bad, you were an extremely expensive scientific anomaly. Somehow the Sires made a human, its a damned shame Monroe wanted something different than more of you. Oh well." He puts the gun directly to her head.

"I guess this is goodbye." She closes her eyes tight and awaits for the bullet. She keeps her eyes closed shut for a little bit, but then opens them to look up. A locust, the one she told to rest, is crushing Tanner's wrist with one hand, and the other hand is crushing his throat. He is trying to move his hand forward, but instead the drone just crushes his wrists more. Tanner shouts and then the drone slams him into a table. The other two Onyx Guards have their guns aimed at him.

"Open fire, kill it!" said one of them. The drone quickly ducked and pulled the table so it would block the shots. He looked around, not sure what to do. Myrrah would try to point to him a bit at Tanner's gun. A guard would walk over to shoot him and he pulled the trigger, firing at the Guard and causing him to fall down. The other one activated an alarm in the tent, which would begin ringing throughout the facility. The drone would stand from behind the table and shoot at the guard who activated it and killed him. Once he was dead, he ran towards his primary concern, Myrrah.

The Locusts would be unable to get past the handcuffs on her, and merely broke them. She pulled the cloth from around her mouth and got up.

"How did you find me?" The locust would barely manage to state that he saw her. Myrrah would later learn that she had been gone for a while and the locusts had been looking for her, he spotted the men taking her away and rushed to the tent.

"Well, either way, go rally the Locusts." she said and picked up a gun off of an Onyx guard he shot. She took a revolver off of his belt, as the main gun is just a bit too heavy for her.

"They attacked me, we are going to attack them. Leave none alive, kill every last one!" The drone nodded and would run out o the tent, firing his gun in the air. Myrrah smiled and soon within the tent, she would begin hearing pure Chaos ensuring.

"Release every Locust but a few Berserkers! Attack my minions! It is time we gain freedom from this inferior species! For you are superior my children, you are the future!" she shouted to the Locusts.

Gunfire and screaming could be heard all about as the Locusts easily overpowered the Onyx Guard and humans in this confusion. Myrrah observed one guard shoot down two drones only to have one come behind and punch him. The drone pushed him into the ground and then several others joined in and began to tear off his armour and then his flesh. A guard would run over to help, except he then heard an infamous sound.

"Boom!" The Boomer who had hugged Myrrah was holding a grenade launcher. He fired it right into the guard who was just turning around to see him. It would hit the poor man, causing flesh and blood to rain down for a little bit. Myrrah smiled and opened a tent flap to see several humans cowering in fear. Myrrah smiled and held the door open for several drones to run in. Myrrah would be merely advising and giving orders throughout the fight, as the Locusts quickly finished off the Onyx Guard and would begin rounding up and executing the scientists and researchers.

They were lined up, and would walk to an area in front of Myrrah, who was sitting in a makeshift throne. It was a regular chair, but various computers and machinery were lined up so make it raise a bit and give a larger back behind it. They were lined up three at a time and on their knees as Myrrah was, just without the bindings. They were all shot in the head and then their bodies were thrown into a pile dubbed: "Food."

After three rounds of execution, the time came for Ruften, who had been slashed through the gut and was bleeding badly. He was coughing it out a bit and a fair amount poured from his mouth. He would have his head down until he looked up to Myrrah and smiled.

"So, this is how the bitch repays our kindness." he said. He would begin to walk forward and Locusts aimed their guns a them. She put her hand up, and they put down their guns.

"In what ways am I bitch, Darren? I have merely taken my rightful place, as Queen of the Locusts. I am giving these people a chance to live and prosper. To be the true power they were meant to be, not your little science project."

"I treated you like damned family, like you were my daughter! I didn't even fucking do this because I like you!" she raised an eyebrow.

"I fuckin hated you the whole time! You were a damned bitch who always felt like you had to have a barrier between you and humans, that because you were a Locust you were so deep! Myrrah, you are a damned mistake. The Locusts were meant to become a fighting force for the COG, we claimed we were researching a cure for Lambency so we could get some more workers. To win the damned war! Though I played along with everyone and raised you, since you were damned born in that area. Claimed you were good for them as you kind of connected a bit. Now I realize that was a goddamn mistake. I was even going to kill you on the ride here, except you chose to walk with these abominations. So kill me now, if hell accepts abominations, there is a spot with your name on it." Myrrah would glare at him, she felt saddened, but this made killing him easier. Still, she hated that whole speech and his tone. It hurt her heart to remember the times she spent with him. How he taught her about history and genetics, or when she was five years old and fell into a Sire's cage and he had to somehow get her out without dying to it. Even her birthday party when she was eleven. She pulled out the revolver she took from a human and put it to his head. Before he could say another word she fired and personally killed him. Myrrah would get up and walk away to a tent, wanting to take a rest, too many emotions today.

The Locusts would continue executing and they would feast on the bodies. They packed them up and would pack up the tents, as they preceded to go further into the hollow the day after tomorrow. It was on this trip that the Locusts found ed the area they would dub Nexus in the inner hollow. They would tame and breed the creatures of the Hollow, Myrrah even personally took up work to make sure the Locusts breed to massive amounts, then had local apes breed into the large Brumak to haul supplies to places. The Horde had been created, they were now Myrrah's domain.

Myrrah would realize she was crying, as she stopped remembering. She had started writing her memory into a journal in the tent, though she sort of snapped out of it as she explained how they became the way they are. She felt her face and her fingers were wet with tears. Memories of the place just saddened her, she could never tell why, but it did. She did feel a bit bad now, Ruften spent all that time showing affection when he hated her, Myrrah spent all her time with Mora acting as a stern guide when she loved her. She wanted to go say something now to her, but Mora would probably still be angry over this confession. There was a lot of things she should have done when raising her, should have never lied, should have cared more, done more things with her, even bring RAAM and act as humans commonly depicted, a family. She would hope to do something soon with her, once the army was on the move. Take it a bit easier for a while and try to enjoy life. She would write a few more sentences, then check outside to see that it was dark. She walked back in and would begin writing more of it into a journal. She fell asleep in mid sentence a few minutes later.

One of the Queen's Guard would walk in to check on her. The drone would see how she fell asleep and picked her up, then placed her in her bed and tucked her in. He would happily walk out, glad to serve under a caring queen like her.

The End


	14. Chapter 14 Misguided

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 14: Misguided

Gyules would be digging through an old crate in the garage. They had been camping there and plotting their movements. While the squad hoped to get Mora back, they could not think of many ideas on how to sneak in. There was an entire Locust army there, it would be extremely difficult to get out of there alive with such a high value target. Then there was that giant beetle. It obviously had some sort of ability, but they did not know how dangerous it was or any of its capabilities. He would be digging through when Tanner would walk by.

"Got any ideas or find anything of use?" asked Tanner.

"Not much stuff and very few ideas. Maybe if we had the hammer of dawn."

"Hammer of Dawn you say!?" a voice would shout. They all had their guns aimed towards the voice. The garage door was opened to see Gamma squad. The mostly female squad would be walking in.

"How did you-" Isis would walk over to Gyules and would rip something out of the back of his head. A chip, now a bit bloody, was pulled out.

"We knew you were gonna leave, I wanted to track you. Make sure that little bitch did not make you betray us. Couldn't get one that goes completely under the skin also, but I got that one."

"Well thanks... but not necessary. We are not returning to Conway."

"Awe, why not!?"

"Cause he is a dickhead!" said Osman, coming out from the APC.

"Even I must agree, he is a weak leader and it is too routine." said Aiden.

"Well, where is the girl?" asked Isis "Conway issued an order, whoever kills her gets ice cream."

"Dude, we should really take this up!" said Tanner "Wait what flavour?"

"Strawberry."

"Ah fuck it, nevermind."

'I like strawberry. If it was someone else I will do it." said Osman.

"Can't he get chocolate?" asked Aiden.

"Chocolate is what I want." said Tanner "What about toppings? Like cookie dough or chocolate chips, maybe cheese crackers."

"You know what ice cream I used to love. They had root beer ice cream once."

"Soda ice cream? They had that?"

"It was for like one summer only and then they stopped selling it."

"We should open an ice cream factory when the war is over." said Osman.

"I'm game brother!" said Aiden.

"Islander Ice Cream! Thats what we will call it. Aiden can do some epic things and be a mascot."

"I like it." said Gyules. Isis and her squad appear quite annoyed. One of them is writing everything they say."

"When the war is over, I am going to be rich off their idea." she whispered to Isis. Isis facepalms and begin to wonder about the standard for people to become Gears. She sighs.

"Well, I do have this at least." she said. She pulls off of her back a Hammer of Dawn targeting laser.

"We observed there are a lot of Locusts in the valley ahead, including this big beetle."

"The Tempest. Mora mentioned a little of it, but I think she had only heard of it. She knew little of what it could do and we currently are scared of it."

"A big beetle? You guys have killed brumaks and corpsers, hell I remember Aiden climbed onto a Brumak and shoved a grenade into its mouth!"

"Fun memories, but that is different, for an enemy you know nothing of is the toughest enemy of all."

"Well, we are going to go kill Mora."

"You need a confirmation of kill. No one is getting close to her with that many Locusts. Someone would need to sacrifice themselves to rain the hammer of dawn down whilst another sneaks in and kills her if we are fortunate that she is in the facility. Even than that person in there would have to rush the APCs out." Gyules would state, talking very quickly. He clearly has been thinking this quite a bit. They all stared at him for a bit.

"...Who wants to die?!"

"You would kill a man for ice cream? Not funny man, its been a long tie but still not worth it. Besides, its just you guys then, we are not going to kill Mora." said Osman "She may be Locusts, but she is a friend and an innocent."

"All Locusts are evil you shithead. If you guys will not help fine, just go report to Conway. He wants you back ASAP. May we use the tunnel then, if this leads to...wherever she is."

"I am not going to stop you." said Gyules.

"Alright! Still, who is gonna do the Hammer of Dawn?"

"I will." said the one man of the squad. They had some people swapped Gyules can see. Only original member was Isis.

"What happened to everyone else?" asked Tanner.

"The fucking weaklings got killed. Polyps, who dies to polyps!?"

"...Get the fuck out of my sight." said Gyules. The single man of the squad would step up.

"Do not talk to the Sergeant like so." he was a larger fellow, even bigger than Aiden. He had darker skin, tanned from the sun, with a shaved head. His eyes were a deep blue, and his muscles were quite large since he wore sleeveless armour. On each arm he had a bit of armour around it, a little pad. On his left pad there was a bullet lodged in it. He was holding a Lancer with a bloody chainsaw and a Scorcher.

"Why the fuck should I not?" asked Gyules stepping up. Gyules, appeared quite small compared to him, most of the squad did though.

"GIVE ME A GODDAM REASON!" He grabs Gyules by his throat and slams him into a wall.

"Because she is a good leader and your Pesanga ass bears loyalty to none! You and your fucking kind are-" Before he can insult Gyules more, he has stabbed his knife into the man's arm. The man dropped him and he pulls it out. Gyules would grab his Lancer and slammed the end of it into the man's crotch. He bent over and before more can be done, Aiden would pull him while the larger man was on all fours in pain.

"Okay...I will go down the tunnel then with Morgan. Bismark, go up with Yvonne, watch his back and tell us when you are going to fire. Bismark nodded and after a minute he got up and would begin to walk out with a female gear. Her hair was long and hanging out of a helmet. A brunette girl would go with Isis as she began to walk down the hallway into the dark.

"What was that about?"

"You know my mother was Pesanga, right?"

"Yeah, you got a small accent and you like mountains."

"...Yeah...just old racism since many COG hate the Pesanga. Considering the country helped without ever joining."

"Its just odd, haven't seen anyone like so in a long time." said Tanner "Hell no one even mocks me for being partial Gorasni and fighting the COG, or Aiden for being an islander."

"We are just a squad of interbreeds." said Osman.

"I assume thats why we were grouped. But fuck, if it works. Now shall we save Mora from these assholes?" asked Gyules.

"Going to go through with it?"

"Why not, and if I am lucky the Queen will spare us since I did save her ass."

"Doubt it, she is a really c-"

"Bitch."

"What?"

"Just bitch." Tanner waited a bit for some time to go by, and then would say his word.

"Cougar." Osman shakes his head and facepalms. Gyules would kick down the side of an old crate and cause it to open.

"Oh and anyone need any ammo? I was digging for useful items and found them. Also found my personal favourite item from when I was a medic." He holds up a few stim gas grenades.

"Remember when we had a supply of these and would just lob them to whomever was down!" said Gyules.

"Damn COG ran out of supplies." muttered Tanner "Well, we will help ourselves to ammo, I assume you are gonna go after them, but what shall we do?"

"Osman will be driving the vehicle, and just stay on watch. If I die...well..."

"Just contact us radio every once in a while." said Tanner.

"Will do when I can." said Gyules. Gyules would start changing down the hallway to go get Moa.

Mora, meanwhile, was in her room, looking at a mirror. She was examining the imulsion burn she had, which was pretty much gone now.

"That healed really quickly, burned like shit...but damn." she thought to herself. Mora would make a few faces in the mirror and began to look over her facial features as it was a smaller mirror. She put it down, fine with her face, but considering trying something with her hair. It was mostly just long, she wanted to maybe get it cut to some style and not by Locusts. Locusts used knives and are not exactly known for being hair dressers...or having hair. She would like to see what a human can do, but she doubted that would come soon.

Mora was with her mother, as much as she did not like that she lied to her, she still loved her mother. She wished she could just go visit Gyules and his men, yet return home to her mother. Sadly, that could never occur. She would walk around the desk and sat in it. She began to open up drawers and dig through them. The main drawer had a bunch of papers and documents with writing supplies. Stuff she did not care for and would merely start throwing it out a window.

Mora dug through the main drawer and found nothing of use, all just UIR stuff and things in a language she could not read. She then opened up a larger drawer to her left and pulled out a few objects. There was a roll of duct tape, which she would observe was used to fix a broken leg, a book called: "Killing Gears for Dummies", and a little statue of some sort of character from a movie or video game. It was desk decoration. Mora would look at the book about killing Gears and figured this should be the standard manual for Locusts. She tossed it out the window though. Mora opened a drawer beneath that one and pulled out a sawed off shotgun. She would open the chamber to see that its loaded.

"Now if Gyules comes in again...I got him." she thought, smirking. Mora looked it over. She questioned how long the barrel was before it was sawed off, this thing was quite big. Obviously it fit in the drawer, but still. She would place it on top of the desk and dug through the drawer for anything else. She found a nail and would begin doing her best to try and carve a Locust symbol in the hilt. She barely got a scratch in before giving up. She throws the nail aside and would begin to dig through a drawer to her right.

The drawer was locked and began to pull at it a bit. She kept pulling at it and stood up. Mora would be pulling quite hard and ended up falling backwards and into a wall, having ripped the drawer out.

"Ow..." she muttered and would begin looking into it. Inside it were several vibrators and a few magazines.

"What is this?" she thought and looked at it. Mora would click the switch and it began to vibrate. She noticed setting and began to toy with that.

"What use does this have? Seriously, what on earth could humans use this for?" Mora would grab a magazine and opened it.

"Lets see...PlayWomen...why is a man on the over then and in an irregularly odd amount of clothing. Its far less than the purpose of clothing is to serve." She opened up to a random page and found a rather naughty picture. Mora starts shouting and throws the magazine out the window.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" She threw out the vibrators, magazines, and the entire drawer.

"What was that? All humans have one!? Oh I wish to unsee this!" Mora would take the shotgun and clutched it tightly as she went to her bed and sat down. She would be trying to forget this. Meanwhile, Gyules had an idea as they walked through.

"Hey guys, can you send Aiden my way."

"Why?" asked Tanner.

"We should use some of those grenades and explosives back there in the columns. We can cut off the tunnel so they cannot follow us through it."

"I will do so." said Osman "I am going to be waiting here anyways and its just planting the grenade."

"Thanks, Gyules out." He stops recording and would be rushing through the tunnel, barely able to see them through the darkness.

"You are still following us!" shouted Morgan.

"Not following!" said Gyules.

"Then I am not going to let you get to Mora." he said. As he was getting past Isis would open the radio to the squad.

"Hey, did I ever tell you guys the story of how Gyules wet himself at Basic?"

" I wanna hear this!" said Tanner.

"Do not listen to her, I never did so! The water fountain broke!"

"And there must have been piss in our water then." Morgan would run ahead as Gyules struggled to tell them that he had not done so. They would give him shit about this forever if this story was let out. Morgan meanwhile was rushing to the door. She would move quickly down the hall and got to the end a few minutes later. She would undo a few locks on the back and then called to the man in a private channel.

"Fire the Hammer of Dawn, I am right in front of the facility."

"Got it." he said in response. He would begin walking past the generators, the Locusts up there already dead. He looked down to the valley full of them, and smiled.

"Surprise motherfucka!" he said as he aimed the Hammer of Dawn towards the ground and would begin firing a much larger beam than is usually fired. It would be burning through locusts as he moved it all about on them. Morgan would pull the lever, hearing the clamour of boots rushing out. It opened to the room and she would pull out a little device. There was a chip on Mora as well. She would follow as it instructed, running through the facility to the stairs. She noticed several Lousts rushing down and would fire her Lancer at them. She mowed down the first two and then rushed to the third one and revved up the chainsaw, slamming it down onto his skull. She cut to his brain and killed him. Morgan reloaded as she would run up the stairs.

She fired her Lancer at a Locust down the hallway, killing him and would keep running down the hallway until she got to Mora's room. Mora would be looking out the window towards the Hammer of Dawn beam raining on Locusts who ran over and fired at the guy launching it, yet he had gone prone and was near difficult to hit with fear of the laser about. The beam would stop raining down as a boomshot grenade hit the rock by him and made it fall, causing him to nearly fall.

Morganwould slam the door open and was about to fire her Lancer, only to step on that nail. She cursed and would begin hopping about, holding her foot. She stepped down so hard it went through her worm boot and foot. Mora would turn around started and fired the sawed off at her, tearing the girls upper half into pieces. The blood splattered onto her a little.

"Holy shit!" said Mora "Was that..." She looked at the pants and several Locusts who were chasing her ran in.

"I got it!" said Mora, waving them off. She could tell by the legs, it was a female human. Someone she remembered from that human settlement Omega lived at. She was a ditzy girl who just followed orders and nothing more. Mora was wondering what she was doing here...the COG must be attacking. Gyules maybe...no he wouldn't. Gyules preferred to use his own squad for things. She would begin walking out of her room and would walk down the hall and downstairs. She headed to the room where the tunnel was, to find it open, Gyules was arguing with Isis there, trying to get her to be quiet about the story.

"What the hell is going on!?" shouted Mora "Gyules, what are you doing here with Isis. I just killed that one bimbo from the base and a hammer of dawn took out quite a few Locusts!" said Mora "What are you doing!?"

"Its my plan actually." said Isis. She turned to Gyules.

"Forgive me darling." She would reach to grab a pressure point only for him to grab her by her hair and slam her head into the wall. She lifted her heel back and into his crotch, then slammed the butt of her lancer into his head. Isis was to fire her gun, but got behind cover. Gyules was groggy and would just begin thinking that he should have plotted this better. Right now it was very unprofessional what was going on and he had no real plan. He was _going _to think of something during the walk on how to get rid of Isis, instead he did not want her to tell the story of when he pissed himself. He was drinking from the water fountain on his first day, scared as hell of training, and Isis patted him on his back. He was so startled, and having been so scared of COG training, he peed. Course training changed that he would never fear combat again unless he was losing.

Mora would begin muttering a curse and Isis would smile.

"HELP! I AM UNARMED AND THERE ARE HUMANS!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She was near screeching it, all she could do. A Queen's Guard would rush through the door and looked over to the humans. He would begin firing a Hammerburst II at her. A few more joined him and Isis would just fire suppression fire as she got behind a desk, on the other side of the one Mora is behind. Gyules muttered a bit and would get up. A drone looked to him and shouted "Hostiles!" Gyules would shoot him and he fell over, screaming a bit, but quickly dead. He got behind cover with Isis and grabbed Mora from behind cover. He pulled her over behind the desks and shoved Isis. She fell out of cover and Gyules would grab Mora again while she was in a state of confusion. His hand was clamped tightly over her mouth. He would hold her in front of him and would walk back slowly to bookcase. The drones dared not shoot as she was in front of him. They would rush to the bookcase and he pulled the lever. It would close itself before they could get too close and overpower him. Gyules threw her aside and would quickly lock the clamps of the door.

"What the hell!?' shouted Mora "What is going on? There was a hammer of dawn strike out there, I killed that one ditzy bitch who entered my room, and now you killed Isis.

"Well, I just saved your damned ass from her, though there may be others coming." he said. If one girl got to Mora though...Gyulees would spin Mora about and moved her hair aside to see a chip sticking out. He grabbed it and ripped it out, causing her to shout in pain.

"OW!" she said and rubbed the wound, fresh blood was on her hand.

"Isis was tracking you and I. Conway offered a hit on your head and they were going to kill you. I just saved your life."

"And now why the hell am I in here?" she asked.

"We are retaking you."

"What!? Why? I am not going, I am home and I thought you wanted me out of your hair. There was that time where you decided to kill me and my talks of Skorge really frustrated you." Gyules sighs and would pull from a pocket a roll of duct tape.

"I will explain as we walk, but prefer I use this?" he asked.

"I much prefer not, course..." She reaches for his belt grabbing his pistol.

"Its not loaded." She aimed at the wall and clicked the trigger. It did not fire.

"Why is it not loaded? Who carries an unloaded pistol!?"

"I figured you would steal it, but I still got magazines for it. Now get walking."

"Gyules! I am not going. I did just have an argument with my mother, those documents you gave me revealed a lot of things, but I am not going to leave. It would devastate her." He sighs and would be walking as she followed.

"Gyules! We got some problems!" said Tanner.

"What is it?" he asked into his headpeace "I got Mora."

"Great...you know its razorhill out here?"

"What? Already?"

"Yeah, hiding under the solar panels, they are designed to endure it, but we also got that crazy guy with the hammer of dawn fighting that fucking beetle! That thing is trying to kill him with some light, wrecking the panels! At this rate she may wreck the cover and the hail will kill us all!"

"I will get to Osman, we will get the APC to you and rush out!"

"Good!" said Tanner "The guy is mostly trying to dodge her, but I think the satellite is out of line now." Gyules gets off the radio and starts sprinting down the hallway.

"We gotta save Tanner and Aiden from your mother."

"I am not going to help you!" she said "I desire to stay with my mother and the Locusts!"

"Do you understand kidnapping? Thats what is going on." he said "Now come along." he said. Mora would look about. She ran back to the door and Gyules would sigh, then just began to run off. He had to go secure his squad, while he cared for Mora, he would not sacrifice Aiden and Tanner. He began sprinting down the hallway and towards the APCs. It took about five minutes of pure sprinting, but he got there. Locusts were following after him.

"Blow the tunnel, Mora fled but we gotta get Tanner and Aiden!"

"Alright man." said Osman. Gyules jumped into the open back and pulled it closed. Osman would start driving the APC.

"I cannot believe the Stranded did not tear these for pieces."

"Stranded? Wait that explains some of the shit I found in those crates..." he said. Osman would be offroading and driving the APC up the hill. It was moving extremely quick, to the point of where Osman was having some trouble controlling it.

"What did you do to it!?" he asked.

"Messed with the engine!"

"You are too good with parts!"  
>"My sister is better!" He would see the generators soon and turned the APC to its side as he slammed on the breaks. It was still going a bit and rammed right into a solar panel. The panel fell over and the APC was a bit harmed. The Tempest was standing on the ground and trying to slam its foot onto the one man who is firing a Gnasher at it.<p>

"Its about damned time!" shouted Tanner, who was firing his Gorgon pistol at Queen's guard coming from the elevator room. Aiden would fire his boomshot at a boomer and killed him.

"Next time we need a plan, I am going to Hannibal!" Osman was about to drive it a bit forward to them, when the Tempest would begin to shine a bright light from its mouth. The light was hot as can be, burning the tires away and partially through the metal. The beetle stopped shining it and then the guy tried another blast of it. The laser was locking on when Tanner would take aim with his torque bow and fire it into his back, near his neck.

"Tag!"

"...Shit!" The bow exploded and blew away most of the flesh in that area, leaving his head barely attached to his neck and spine exposed, much of it harmed and even blown off by the explosion. His arm was barely on, with his shoulder blown apart, the arm was hanging on by the armpit flesh. He falls over, dead from blood loss. Myrrah looked over to see Tanner beneath the ray, expecting a Theron.

"Hey! Remember us?" he said.

"We have saved you much harm and killed our own dying kind, I believe you can at least spare our lives!" said Aiden. Myrrah facepalmed and would be annoyed by this attack. A single man broke into their base and killed a fair portion of her Locusts with satellite lasers, too many as not one should have even died. This area was far too exposed and of irregular terrain, she needed to pull out of here.

"So do we get to live? Please? Maybe provide us some boomshields or something since this hail is kind of wrecking stuff!" Tanner pleaded.

"You did just wreck our ride here." Myrrah would have the Tempest flying over them, as it was unharmed by the hail.

"Follow the Tempest to the facility." she said. She did not want to admit it, but she was indebted. They did save her life and just killed their own kind for her. Though Myrrah was not entirely of knowledge of fighting between Stranded and COG. That and there was a lot more Stranded than she or the COG knew of. Gyules climbed out back and rushed to get under it, the guys staying tight and following under it as they got to the little elevator room. Myrrah would get off the Tempest and into the room, avoiding the hail she could. Most of the Locusts had rushed to shelter, finding it within tents or under Brumaks who were safe due to tough skin and the weaponry on top of them.

"Can you explain what exactly happened?" asked Myrrah "A COG soldier just attacked and rained the Hammer of Dawn down onto my people and hurt my Tempest."

"Our commander is a jackass is what happened. He put a hit out on Mora and this man was apart of a squad of two others, possibly one more who was killed on the way. They sought to kill Mora in a misguided attempt."

"And you stopped them?"

"I killed the commander, you could have handled the man, and the first one to die was killed by Mora."

"So your squad just killed a man to save my life."

"In all honesty, I would love to kill you at any moment. As a wise person though, if you die the Locusts will become furious and attack whatever humans out there, hindering both species' chance of survival vastly." said Osman "We just need the Lambent gone and then we can all get together and kill each other."

"Until that day, I have a proposition." said Myrrah.

"What the fuck would you ever offer us?" asked Gyules.

"I am offering you a chance to serve the Locusts. As much as I do not want to admit it, I cannot take Mora along with my army. I need her out of the combat zone. Human armies find out about her...she is a weakness. I have realized with your capture of her, that keeping her with Locusts is not enough. As elite of soldiers as I send, there is always a chance they can be overpowered by humans or Lambent, and most humans would kill her or worse. You on the other hand, present the safest situation without as much troop loss."

"So wait a minute...you are giving us your daughter? You, who preaches so damned much about how humans were inferior in Nexus or as Mora mentioned"

"I know you will not betray me or betray her. You humans have near pledged your support to me."

"Tell that to the Locusts we have killed." said Gyules "We shall accept your offer though."

"I thank you. Let us go tell her." Myrrah would walk over to the elevator and the guys would begin to follow. The hail was starting to lighten up at least. The elevator took a few minutes. They would all get in, the elevator being a bit bigger to carry supplies and whatnot. Myrrah pressed the button to go to the bottom floor and they would spent an awkward minute in silence before the lights would flick a bit. They all looked about and Gyules said a curse. The elevator would shake a bit more as they heard something burrow through the earth above them.

"Lambent!" he said. A stalk had grow through the earth above the elevator and it was not going down anymore. It was merely hanging by the one cord not wrecked. Polyps would begin to pour from the vine and above them. Gyules and his men would have their guns aimed at the ceiling for when the polyps came. The polyps would begin scratching at the last wire.

"Ah shit..." said Gyules "Brace for impact!" The guys would grab the side of it as the polyp cut the wire and the elevator began to fall. They were all screaming and Tanner would take out his phone and record Myrrah's scream. They would end up hitting the bottom and brought a large amount of dust into the air. They were all coughing, though with minimal injuries.

"Ow..." muttered Osman.

"Everyone alive?"

"I am not dead yet human!" said Myrrah. Osman and Tanner awed and she would glare at them. They all climbed out with minor wounds. At worst Aiden's arm was bleeding a bit. He looked at the wound and Gyules tossed him some gauze. It would begin raining polyps that died from the landing and would explode. The group ran from the explodes and would see that Locusts were mobilizing. Some drones were running from a room and firing their guns.

"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!" shouted Isis who was running in from them. She was bleeding from the head and wielding a grinder. There were several bullet holes in her armour she was bleeding from, and her arm seemed to be hurt even while holding the heavy gun.

"HUH! YOU MOTHERFUCKS! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

"I thought you killed her." said Tanner.

"I threw her out of cover..."

"Well, easy problem to solve." She looked over to Omega Squad and Myrrah.

"WHAT THE HELL!? THE QUEEN IS THERE! KILL HER!"

"You do not realize that it will not aid us. It will-" Isis would begin firing the Grinder at them and then they all ducked into cover. Taner had screamed a curse in a high pitched female voice as he went into cover.

"I hate grindes!" he said "I am always afraid something is going to pop out of the top while I am firing." Gyules rolled his eyes and Isis threw aside the Grinder, it was out of ammo. She was about to run for them when she sees Mora has arrived. Mora heard mention of the Queen and ran to see. Isis smiled and pulled out her pistol.

"Hey bitch." she said smiling. Isis was about to fire when she was shot in the leg and fell over. Myrrah took Aiden's Lancer off his back. Isis was about to fire her pistol, only to have it shot out of her hand and it was bleeding badly now. A bullet went directly into her hand and into her wrist. Myrrah would walk over to her and tossed the Lancer aside. She kicked the girl and grabbed her arm. With a bit of effort, her arm was torn off and she began to vigorously beat the girl with her own arm, shouting at her that she should not harm her daughter.

It would end a few hits after she had bleed out. Myrrah merely tossed the arm aside. She looked over to her daughter and back to Omega, panting a bit.

"Mora, you are returning to your humans."

"What? Mother, what are you doing?"

"I was going to send you with bodyguards anyways to somewhere safe, but these humans have volunteered. They can hide you with human kind."

"Why can't I go with you?"

"Its too dangerous Mora, the army is confronting humans and settlements, but also is the target of Lambent. I do not want to risk you in such a dangerous area, sending you away at human settlements with less Lambent focusing on them is safer. Now go! That is an order!" she explained quickly. Mora was reluctant, but would nod.

"We will get her out of the back tunnel and see if we can get another APC to work." said Gyules "She is in good hands." They would begin running to the tunnels as the Lambent would be bombarding the base with numbers and Polyps. They rushed to the tunnel and would get to an APC, quickly fleeing the battlefield, on to a new destination.

The End


	15. Chapter 15 Moving In

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 15: Moving In

The guys would have rushed out of the base, dragging Mora with them the whole time. She had been fighting to go back and defend her mother, even as they witnessed Stalks grow from the hill and polyps began to follow them. The polyps would be outrun quickly and they would be driving on roads that had been made by the Stranded, though some were under used and plants were growing over them. Osman would be driving the APC and Mora would have been fighting to get out.

"Seriously guys! What is going on? Mother cannot just...discard me like so!"

"Whatever her reason, you must accept and respect her wishes."

"STILL!? WITH HUMANS! She expects to have you all killed! Why do so?"

"We told you her reasoning!" shouted Gyules "Now be quiet, we got a long drive ahead to..."

"We are going to Cooper. Its a safe city, my uncle lives there." said Osman "The one who you guys met once...if I remember he slapped Aiden randomly."

"He was a strange man."

"Well hopefully he is still alive and could get us into the town. Best shot we got."

"I am not saying no." said Tanner.

"Ew, human settlement? I have seen those Stranded cities...they are icky and awful. Lots of broken glass and gabage, poor defenses where people are eating things like rats or even plants...how do you humans consume plants?"

"You are an omnivore also!"

"I am not human! I received more information on your files and my mother told me the truth."

"You sure about that, she has lied a lot."

"Every time she says the Locusts are superior!" Osman laughed, looking back to them, but would look to the road and swerved quickly. The APC nearly went into a rock. The swerve was harsh enough to cause Mora to hit her head on the ceiling.

"Ow! You are supposed to protect me and you have already harmed me!" she complained. Gyules groans and begins to feel regret. Now that they agreed to protect her she is going to expect to be treated like royalty, with all the privileges they cannot provide, scarcely anyone can provide luxury anymore. Mora would be yelling at Tanner for his comment and the two would argue. Mora struggled to defend the Locusts as Tanner had the strong point about how many their squad has killed and on comparison to a single human to a single Locust. Gyules would walk over to the passenger seat and sat by Osman.

"How long?"

"Not sure...this road looks much different." said Osman.

"Well, when do you think the last time you drove on it?"

"Not in that way, the people did something." Osman points over to some sort of totem built by the road, upon both sides of it. The totem consists of a pole nailed into the ground with a cross stabbed into it. The cross consisted of two poles on the midsection, the pole facing towards the road had strings hanging from it with Locust skulls on them of each of the male types. A drone skull on the left, a Kantus in the center, and a boomer on the right. The back had a string with a trash can lid on it, stained with blood and imulsion.

"Hmm...got any idea."

"Probably that cult Tanner had mentioned." Tanner would stop talking in mid sentence as he heard mention of cult and walked over a little.

"Stop the car Osman, let us see." Osman would pull the car over to a ditch and the door was opened. They all began to walk over to take a look. Osman and Gyules would watch the sides or anything that will come as the others looked at the totem, guns aimed and safety off.

"What the hell is that?" asked Mora "Its some sort...its junk, but wait..." she looked over at the skulls and took a step back in horror. Her hands were to her face as she muttered a few things, she was disgusted to see that someone took the time to remove all of the flesh of a Locust. She looked over to see there were more ahead.

"This is what is wrong with humanity! You need control, someone to watch over you or else things like this occur! Crazy people who skin Locusts and build odd items! Who knows what else they re doing?"

"I believe their worship is of war." Aiden stated as he studied it.

"What makes ya think that? I just heard they were crazy mofos. " stated Tanner, leaning against the car.

"It is all the talk anymore,and their usage of items. This blood is not only Locust, there is human as well. Look, Locust stains differently, it reflects light more within the dark than a human. I believe a human skull may have once been added to these, but removed from the design as getting so would be difficult and would scare off potential believers. If this is truly cult, then the leaders are trying to find people, no actual faith." Aiden would be holding the trash can and moving it at angles to show in the light and dark as he talked, moving his hand in a circle on what was placement of human and of Locust. "More than likely, they donated their own blood for it or of people who died. Human body holds a lot of blood after all."

"I know, from personal experiences." said Gyules.

"I know more than you guys I killed humans! Murderer high five!" Tanner offered his hand out to Mora, but would kick him in the shin. Tanner would hop and hold his leg.

"I am angry at you for calling my species weak."

"We have all killed people, when Stranded have attacked." said Gyules.

"There are a lot more Stranded than the COG estimated." Aiden stated as he walked back to the APC and observed something.

"We are being watched. A stranded girl is within a tree near us. Specifically..." Aiden would take out Osman's Lancer and rev up the chainsaw. He began to cut it through a tree near him. The tree was big enough to conceal a person, but not too large. Enough that he was able to use the Lancer chainsaw to cut it down. They could see it was rustling as someone was trying to get out, but would fail to escape as the tree fell to the ground with a thud. It crushed the totem and was in the road a little. A girl would climb out from the tree.

She was a paler girl, her head had been completely shaven, but with some stubble still there. She was wearing a dark outfit made from an old black hoodie and black loose pants, but some sort of symbol was upon her back. It consisted of an orange circle with a broken skull within it. Specifically the right eye socket was broken. A machete was going diagonally from the right and the left, crossing behind the skull.

"Why did you have to cut down my tree!?" she shouted as they all had guns aimed at her.

"Damned COG, here to take away the prodigal son!?"

"Prodigal son? Who is this you are speaking of? Who is he the son of? Or is this like a sun...like a sun god?"

"No, oh you have not been enlightened I assume. People have lost touch and faith with the lies your COG provides. Your conspiracies of the one true leader!" Gyules and Osman look at each other. Osman swirls his finger in a circle by his head, indicating she is crazy. Gyules looks a tad bit annoyed at her and calls for them to put down their guns.

"Look, we were just hoping to find some work in the local town." She seemed a bit angry that they were going there, wanted to tell them to go away, but yet again had to.

"It is just down the road, we are not allowed to deny newcomers, so enter." said the girl.

"Whats with the totems also?" asked Tanner.

"Religious symbols." she said and would run off to the woods before they could ask more. She quickly disappeared in the trees and they all just looked in her direction.

"She was...odd." said Mora.

"I think this town is full of freaks." Tanner stated as he was watching through the scope of his longshot. He was trying to keep track of her, but she was quickly lost to the woods. He did observe a bit farther off in the woods a Lambent squad.

"We will fit in just fine then." Gyules.

"Also we got Lambent just past there, wanna take them or save ammo and head to town?"

"How far off?"

"200 meters. They are cutting through the woods, consist of a...three drudges and two Lambent. Probably stragglers looking where their stalks have not grown to yet."

"Just snipe one and then begin driving. They will be searching for the shot and it will distract them. Lambent cannot look at the body to follow where it went since it explodes."

"Gotcha." said Tanner. He would check the chamber and see it was not loaded. He looks about, hoping no one noticed and active reloaded a new bullet. Tanner fired into a drudge's head, blowing it apart and the drudge, harming other Lambent. They all retreated to their APC and Osman would drive them down the road. After about thirty minutes of driving and encountering totems with human skulls every few meters (the skull placed at the top, stabbed in with a large spike), they arrived at large gates made of various junk. From simple little spoons to two junkers on top of each other, they bolted whatever metal they could to create this large wall surrounding the town. At the top of were sheets of metal to act of cover, though in some parts they used stone or sandbags, farther off they even saw one was wood. Occasionally from the wall poked Troikas or multi-turrets. The Multi-Turrets were usually in hammeburst, II and I. A rather larger Stranded sat atop of the fence, in front of what appeared to be a gate.

"Hey, what do you guys want?" shouted the Stranded, seeming much different than the girl before. "We don't want you COG assholes around here!" Osman stops Gyules before he could yell at them, stepping up and signaled him to the APC. Tanner was sitting with Mora in there, wanting to find her some normal garb before she is seen by everyone.

"Yo bro! I am related to Charlie."

"Charlie? You were with that trading family?"

"Yup." Osman removes his helmet and the guy recognizes him.

"Osman! Last I saw you, you were still a kid! You got old!"

"No shit man! Can you let us in before any glowies come? My friends are cool, they are not doing anything COG like and most of us joined to kill Locusts."

"No shortage there! I gotta warn you though, town has gone to shit. Since we got a large cathedral, a large cult formed."

"We saw the totems and met a follower." said Osman as he walked back towards the APC. The gates would start to open and Tanner would drive it in with the guys walking alongside. Mora would be looking through the windshield whilst trying to remain hidden.

The town kept to the usual Stranded gray, most of the building had little paint left and were far from their prime. They could observe quite a few buildings were being deconstructed and used to fix other buildings. Whether its merely a swapped door, to a large wall put were one was crumbled, they were doing their best to keep the place alive. To their left they could see a large hollowed building that was once mostly glass, though that was now shattered or broken. Within the building held much metal, organized for where it belongs. A large chunk of it was dubbed to be used in ammo production, showing that they have the ability to do so.

The people seemed mostly tired, just wanting to go back to times before the war. Compared to most Stranded though, they had more supplies. Each had clothing and seemed to be rather well fed. Many of the people, usually the ones who were less tired were those wearing the symbol as the girl had, members of the cult. Some of them were even smiling.

A tall, thinner Stranded would approach the group. He had brown hair made lighter by the sun in a rather messy style. Part of his hair in front of his forehead was awkwardly sticking out to the left, while the rest was just messy. He wore an ascot cap to cover most of his hair, a khaki jacket with two large pockets on the sides, a loose and torn black shirt, dusty khakis, and shoes once black, but now covered in dry mud, dust, dirt, and some blood.

"Charlie!" said Osman walking up. He tossed his helmet to Gyules who would take it to the APC.

"Osman!" said Charlie walking over with his arms outstretched. The two would hug and Charlie patted Osman on the back a few times during the hug. He would break it and look him over.

"Its good to see you, its been a while! You have grown and you finally no longer got those man boobs."

"Heheh...ever mentioned that again I will cut out your tongue."

"Still sensitive? Well I expected as much, well...actually I expected you to be dead. Didn't that COG all die when they sank that big city? A bunch of Stranded reported a lot of floating bodies in COG armour."

"I am not certain, I have not been to the Plateau since I left for Hollow Storm." stated Osman "I must ask though in all seriousness, is there any work or housing for us?"

"We can probably use your squad to guard the wall or scavenge. Might be nice to have someone who know what they are doing. I do not wanna admit it, but even with that crazy war cult, most of these Stranded are not prepared if something were to happen to the turrets."

"Thats how most settlements are, yeah we will do our best." said Osman "I will our squad leader decide what to do."

"K, and if you need housing..." Charlie hands Osman a key. Scratched into the key is 346.

"Your house I the one with that number, its near the northern entrance to the church." said Charlie "I will go talk to some people about you scavenging. Just be warned, until you prove useful, people are gonna harass you for being COG." Charlie would be walking away and then looked back to them, still walking backwards.

"People get angry when you drop lasers on them!" he shouted and then would turn around and start running so he can get to those people. Gyules would walk back up with Osman and they would be walking the APC through town. It was a bit difficult to maneuver, many buildings had fallen and the roads were merely designed for people to walk usually. They were not even sure if they were allowed to drive this there. The man let them in, so they assumed that they could.

On their way driving there, they noticed that people here had several luxuries others did not. There were some stores selling items that had been being produced before the war, and they noticed a sign telling of a sort of natural spring they had access to. The people were still tired, but one could see those coming from the springs seemed happier. Far more relaxed and eased. Though tired or did, it did not stop any of them from shouting various comments. Things such as: "Fascists" ""Baby killers!" "Thanks for forgetting us!" "Your driver's head is shiny!" etc.

"How long until they slit our throats at night." Tanner stated within the APC.

"These people live like this?" said Mora, looking through the driver's window.

"We have visited quite a few, but ever want any stories of them, ask Osman. He has visited settlement from her, to Fucked, to even a few islands."

"We are really getting into the area he knows."

"Yup, its gonna be real great. Really great..."

"You being sarcastic?"

"Maybe. Maybe its because if I say the wrong witty thing one of these mofos will kill me for being COG or Gorasni, or both. Humans are kind of bigoted like so." Mora was to say something about this and how Locusts were better, but she knew there was some fighting between some Locusts, several Kantus had proposed ideas of testing Drones for Lambency and killing those who do. Drones were sensitive about this issues and claimed that the Kantus were not needed to draw out worms. Some fighting occurs, but no deaths due to others forcing them to back off. She sighed and merely continued to look out the window from the back of the APC. The group would go around the church to the north and began looking through house numbers.

"344...345...346. Here we are."

"We are really doing this?" asked Osman.

"We had plans of leaving anyways."

"True...meh life here does not seem any worse."

"Life is shit everywhere, thats what the three sides made the world into. Only Lambent don't have emotions or need resources other than bullets. Thats why they are winning. We should try that!" Tanner does his best to create a poker face. Mora looks at him. She waves her hand in front of his face, but no emotion is presented.

"You want Osman's ass."

"..."

"Aiden's?"

"..."

"My older sister's?"

"YOU HAVE A SISTERS?!" shouted Tanner, loud enough that from the APC the guys could hear, though not make out what he said. His desire to show no emotion ended as he seemed to have hopes. With luck she was in her thirties or something a bit closer to his own age.

"I do not, but you failed."

"Dammit! Lets go see our palace then..." The two would walk out and looked up at the place. House 346 was connected to house 345, making up what was once a three story building. Once, whereas now the third story had collapsed and most of the pieces of it were being used elsewhere. Now it was just a peaceful roof area both houses could access. A few old lawn chairs were set up there for relaxing on the roof. The building was the same as the rest of the buildings here, tan thick stone with paint long faded. Only difference was that this building was a bit larger than the rest. They could see what was once windows were there, except now they were just boarded up with whatever they could find. The glass that was in them was shattered though a few pieces still stuck out of the edges, appearing quite sharp. In one window there was blood on some of the glass. Gyules would stick the key in the door only for it to fall off.

"Well...that is...okay who is gonna fix that?!"

"I will get on it once we look about and distinguish rooms." Osman said as he walked past him into the entrance. First thing they notice is a staircase leading to the second story in front of them. At the first step of the stairs is the entrance to their very basic kitchen. Merely a microwave and a fridge hooked to a sort of large battery in the corner. A generator sat by the battery, to charge it at any time. There were a few old shelves, a table with two chairs, and a counter against the wall with a sink. The sink still had running water as far as they could tell.

"That is nice..." said Osman. Gyules would have gone upstairs and could see it was just a hallway with four different rooms, two each side. At the end of the hallway is what was once a bathroom, but the toilet was removed and there was no running water upstairs. Most of what was in the room, except a few shreds of wallpaper, was removed. Painted on the back wall was "Use the outhouze"

"This is..."

"Whats an...outhouze?" asked Mora.

"Its a little building around a hole you shit or piss in. If you are ever in need to hide from someone, and are that desperate, you can jump in the hole." said Tanner.

"...Ew."

"Grosser than it sounds." They guys show no reaction, similar to as if he said nothing. They merely walk to their rooms. Gyules get the closest one to their left, Osman closest to the right, Tanner farthest left, and Aiden farthest right. The rooms were without beds, but each of them had their own sleeping bags they set up, With luck they could get furniture in the future, but for now they were without.

"Where do I sleep?" asked Mora, as they took all of the rooms rather quickly.

"Former bathroom?" said Gyules.

"I am not sleeping there!"

""Foyer?"

"No."

"...You are going to take my room?"

"If you insist." Gyules is about to say something, but just sighs.

"You can have my room until we get another set up. Besides we need to...wait a minute." They could hear someone entering and climbing over the door, Gyules would walk over to the staircase, Lancer in hand, to see who had entered. Two female Stranded had entered, both appeared fairly young

One of the girls bore a stereotypical 'hot blonde' like body, whereas the other was a brunette with a very similar body, yet smaller breasts and a bit more well fed. They both wore skinny jeans, but the blonde wore a black shirt with a jacket. The brunette wore a tan top with a logo of an old television show and a hoodie. Both wore lightly, but are trying to prepare as it is cold outside.

"Hey! Are you the new neighbors?" asked the blonde.

"No we are just breaking in." said Tanner "Going to take the wonderful items left for us in here! I am not sure we can carry it all so much is in here!" The blonde would begin reaching for the pistol in her jacket.

"Relax, he is joking. We should probably talk outside if you wanna discuss with us, this place is a bit small. We are the new neighbors though."

"Okay, its a bit cold out, but it is also cold in here." said the blonde and would begin walking out.

"Is she-" whispered Mora.

"Yes, she is stupid." whispered Gyules. They all followed, Osman and Aiden would lean against the side of the building as Gyules and Mora went to talk with them. Tanner merely hung back and began doing as Osman said he would, fixing the door.

"We live in 345 and merely wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood! I am Yuna, this is Luna. We're sisters." said the blonde.

"Charmed, I am Gyules, the big guy is Aiden, the helmeted homosexual is Osman, douchebag fixing the door is Youkahainen."

"Tanner!"

"Either or, and this is Moragna."

"Moragna, that is an odd name. What odd attire, so much Locust stuff."

"Forgot about the outfit." whispered Osman to Aiden"We should really be more observant."

"At least we are moreso than Johnny." Johnny was a member of Omega who was killed by a sniper. They would usually remark him as a "Douchebag" and felt nothing over him dying other than a loss in firepower. The two snickered a little.

"We snagged it from raiding a Locust storage cart. Her older clothing was torn, got her this instead. Its armoured with thin, but strong metal. Its made of the finest materials out there, meant for the Locust Queen herself."

"Ooh!" The girls would be gawking over the outfit, moving in closer only for Mora to take a few steps back.

"Please don't...wait...think you can help us with a problem?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"We got only four rooms, and there are five of us. Got a spare?"

"Sure! We can bring you in and spend time with you, do things girls did before the war." The two girls were obviously too young to know of things from before the war, but other than Tanner and Aiden, none of the squad knew of times before the war. Aiden only knew of Islander ways even and Tanner spent his time in destroyed Gorasni for much of the peace.

"That would be lovely!" Mora exclaimed in a rather fake voice. She was not as good at lying as her mother, at least to those who knew her. To these girls she seemed excited.

"We gotta take you to the hot spring, it is so relaxing and almost no one has experienced such things! C'mon!" The two girls would grab Mora and began basically dragging her to the hot springs they had passed. The guys, shook their heads and would let the girls run off. They were going to set up whatever they could in the place.

The End.


	16. Chapter 16 Settling

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 16: Settling

Mora would be dragged off by the two girls to the hot spring, being visible to most of the people in town. Gyules would sigh and walked inside so he can set up that his room would be the former bathroom. He would deal just so Mora doesn't complain to them everyday what these neighbors have done.

"Gyules!" shouted Tanner. Gyules turns around to Tanner.

"Think we should send someone to monitor her. They may seem like idiots, but never know who could get angry. Especially since she is in that outfit."

"You can watch them, but the girls will hit you for being a perv." said Gyules.

"I am never caught."

"I would prefer you to not peep on Mora."

"Why not? Being protecte-"

"You would tell her you did so and compliment her rack."

"Well...okay I really would. Who will you send then!?"

"Osman."

"...Damn." Osman begins to walk to the hot springs and the guys groan. Gyules would begin walking to the house to change what he had put into his room. Tanner and Aiden lounged outside.

"Okay I am gonna say it. This place gives me the creeps." said Tanner after a long moment of silence.

"This place feels as though it does have odd spirits about it. I do not see why it gives one, the 'creeps' as you say."

"Look at everyone." he said, pointing over to a man walking past. The man's face was pale as can be and while well fed, his face seemed rather thin. He was tired as the rest, as if he had been sleepless for a long time. His hand had a wounded that extended to his sleeve and looked as if it should have been bleeding.

"Everyone here seems like that, they are all deathly tired and pale, but this area is just cloudy and gray. They basically shuffle about and I am not even sure all have a place they are going to. Like we are surrounded by ghosts."

"I doubt one's soul would stay behind unless they had business to attend to. Still...there is something a bit odd about this town." Gyules would walk outside.

"So are we going to check for some work."

"Not so fast, do you feel it too?"

"Feel what?"

"That this town is creepy as hell."

"I get it a bit, but I also don't believe in that supernatural shit so I am not thinking anything odd like ghosts or that stupid shit/"

"Well I am feeling it, but alright. Have anywhere in mind for us to go?"

"Going to check that church. They might have work for us, also wanna see whats up with those totems and stalker followers." The three would begin walking away. Elsewhere, the girls would have brought Mora to the hot springs. They would be walking in with her and approached the counter and found a woman standing behind it. She looked much more lively than the others, but still pale like most and a bit tired.

"Oh you girls brought a friend today?"

"Yup!"

"Going to pay for her...also why the outfit?"

"Its armour!" said Yuna.

"Belonged to the Locust Queen." said Luna. The girl behind the counter seemed a bit intrigued. The other two would quickly pay though, providing a sort of coin as money.

"What was that you gave them? I thought Stranded only traded supplies."

"Since not everyone works for supplies, we have a form of money worked out among us and other Stranded. Though other camps run differently with their wealth..." The three walked to the area set up for genders. There was female to the right, males to the left, and an integrated one center.

"Maybe you and one of those guys can go in the mixed one later." teased Luna.

"Why would I do that? We are friends." The girls giggled a little as they walked into the woman's section. Women were getting out of their clothing as they prepared to enter the springs, others were getting dressed from exiting it. Mora's face reddened looking around, feeling rather awkward.

"Just pick a locker to put your clothing in. No one really steals here so it should be safe." said Luna as she would begin taking off her top. Yuna was removing her own as well. Mora looked around a bit nervously.

"You are just...okay with this? Everyone nude in there..."

"The water is filtered and at first it was awkward, but we are all human though. No real big deal. Besides the people of this town put a lot of work into tending for this, might as well use it." said Luna.

"I think I will just go..."

"No you must! This place is nice and the water will relax you. You just gotta shower first also. They got private stations." Yuna pointed her in the direction of showers. Mora sighed and would begin undoing the armour. Elsewhere the guys are walking to the entrance of the ship. Quite a few people were gathered outside, all followers or people looking to follow. There were quite a few more than expected.

"Hey Tanner, you are old, know anything of this group?"

"I know as much as you, when we learn more I shall see if they got anything of the past. I heard of some cult dedicated to a war goddess back from the Pendulum Wars but I dunno anything else."

"You mean the crazy one?"

"Yeah that one." They would walk to the massive wooden doors of the church. The doors opened as they approached and one would first notice a dead stalk grown on the inside. It was grown in the area where the alter would usually be and grown about the area into the piano and choir section. It was against the roof partly even supporting it."

"Fascists!" a voice shouted, one they could not tell. Most people did not seem to react to them entering other than those closing the door. Tanner was about to say something when he would be tackled to the ground.

An overly thin man had jumped onto him. He appeared almost savage, his teeth appeared as if they had been sharpened, though others were chipped and quite a few were missing. His eyes were blue and bloodshot, the left one bearing several scratches made directly around the pupil. The right eye was perfectly fine. He wore brown pants with some sort of brown shirt that was was tightly against his body, but left his arms exposed revealing many wounds and scratches. A few appeared to show marks and on his right arm he had carved: "LIES!" into his bicep.

"What the shit!?" shouted Tanner and was about to hit him, only for the man to grab him, very long fingernails digging at his skull. He would hold him with one hand and looked very curiously up as the other hand knocked on his head. The thin man sniffed his head and would jump off.

"Human, little imulsion or lambency, what do you desire of the master?" the man stated, talking slower with stating facts on Tanner, but sped up when he asked what they desired.

"We are hoping he provides work." The man jumped at Gyules who would take out his pistol and aim it at him, squad aiming all of their guns at him.

"YOU SHOULD NOT ATTACK JUNDERS!" the man shouted and would jump a bit forward, landing on his right hand and spinning his body with both legs outstrethed. He spun his body on his hand, kicking Gyules and Tanner, but Aiden would catch his leg with one hand. He dropped his hammerburst II and would grab his leg with both hands. He would spin Junders around a few times and then threw him into a wall.

"Excuse him." shouted an older, wiser voice. The guys would look over to see an older robed man. He was dressed in flamboyant purple robes decorated with images of weapons of war. Specifically on the part over his legs a spear was depicted, on his left arm a hammerburst and right is a lancer. In the center of his robe is the same symbol as on the followers they saw around town. He had his hood up, shadowing his face but a white beard was coming from the hood. The man lowered the hood and revealed his head to be bald and face aged greatly. He bore a large scar going from his eyebrow, across his nose, to his cheek.

" That is Junders, one of our champions and greatest warriors." He talked slow, taking his time with every word as age had made even speech difficult. As they all had looked, Junders would slip away and disappear.

"What? Warrior?"

"Yes...it would not seem so. Junders has undergone massive damaging from Locust torture and we believe he has been hit in the head a lot. He has proven useful in protecting our torn and bringing war as we please."

"Bringing war? How can you start war unless its between Stranded." asked Gyules.

"We bring war, by causing our foes to fight and more to fight. You may not see it, but we are blessed. Walk with me." A girl would walk over and hand him a large staff. The staff was made of various metal smelted together. The top of the staff was broken and bent as if something bit it off. He would be walking with the cane through the aisle towards the stalk. Mentioning of their religion.

"A human's natural state of mind is not at peace, but it is at war. Now we have been blessed to not only find one, but two species who purpose is the same as ours. This is truly a blessing from the gods."

"This is not an intervention of any higher beings. This is how life is, the body is sacr-" Before Aiden could finish Gyules would whisper a bit to him.

"I think these guys would not agree with your religion. We could use their money." Aiden would remain quiet, though he did not like their waste of life.

"How about rather than explain, we just get to the point. We are new in town and have combat skills, could this be of any use for food."

"We wanna know if we could be employed for any food? We dunno where else to work."

"Ah yes...my scouts have seen your deeds. We watched as the Locusts had their own civil war. We saw the bald Gorasni lead Locust against Locust and one of my scouts witnessed the Queen and a man defend her. Hearing his description, this must have been you who had killed the great Skorge."

"You saw this?'

"Yes, and with your skill we would love to have you as members of our church."

"We are not joining, we just want food, supplies, the shit you need to live."

"Well one could hope for great warrior followers, but we could employ you. We could use your expertise to help with any trade caravans in trouble in the area. Our last group to do so was killed."

"Sounds easy. Why not send your scouts?"

"Our scouts are not skilled enough to fight off large threats. You will be on call everyday and you can use that APC you brought."

"Good enough for me. Will we be paid per caravan in trouble?"

"No you will be provided coin you can give and exchange for food once a month. We have a fair system working."

"That works." Gyules would begin walking off and then they would hear the old man cough.

"One more thing!" They all turned to him.

"Send Princess Moragna my regards." He would begin laughing a bit revealing his teeth were quite yellowed. They would begin rushing out, walking quickly.

"Shit man his scouts learned her name!?" Tanner shout whispered.

"I dunno, he must have good scouts or was watching us! At least we got Osman watching her."

"What if he did something now?" asked Tanner.

"Then let us go see how Osman is doing." They would start heading to the hot springs they saw after all nodding in agreement. The guys would arrive quickly, Tanner going around to see if Osman is watching from a distance, Aiden staying outside and Gyules entering. Gyules would attempt to walk past the front desk but was stopped by the person there.

Mora meanwhile has been relaxing in the water after cleaning herself up. It was nice, not as nice as the large personal ones in the hollow, but nice. Except something happened with the water supply and most of those springs got filled with imulsion. Yuna and Luna had been in a separate part so she was all alone away from the others. Mora would begin getting up though, having spent her time relaxing. This was much needed after the stress of seeing her mother and being sent away, learning the true origin of the Locusts, being taken by Omega, etc. She had a lot emotionally going on and this was much needed.

She would make her way through the water and onto the ground and began walking to get her clothes. She would hear some shouting and listened a bit.

"Get the hell off me!" shouted Gyules. She heard the sound of someone getting hit a few times and then he would be thrown and hit the wall. He would begin getting up and was hit by the bouncer again falling onto his back and into the girls section. Many girls would scream and cover themselves.

"GYULE!" shouted Mora reaching for a towel but not one was near. Her face turned bright red as she just grabbed her armour and held it over her body. Gyules' nose was bleeding.

"Ah shit...I never expected this." he said. This situation lead to just awkward silence between the two as Aiden and Tanner explained why they were worried walking home.

The End.


	17. Chapter 17 Gorasni

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 17: Gorasni

A day after the incident at the hot spring and the church, the awkward silence would have ended. Gyules would be talking with Mora and walking through the town. Aiden would have volunteered to be investigating the church, examining their actions and finding the locations of where their people are who watch them. Tanner is aiding from the rooftops, mostly using this as an excuse to climb up places and putting his sniper training into practice. Osman is purchasing food and asking Charlie for anymore info. Mora has a light coat on as its snowing outside. There is about two inches on the ground and rising.

"Why does this bother you so much?" asked Mora "So he knows who I am, big deal!"

"How though? Before RAAM even died most humans did not even know their was a queen. We just learned of your existence those few months ago and there are no records of you. We never call you princess either."

"I dunno, what do you think he will do? Kill me and display my corpse."

"More than likely use your corpse for a totem." Gyules stated trying to make it seem like a joke. He really figured they would do so. She sighed and shivered a bit.

"I am not used to this, snow, I believe." she said and held her hand out, a few snowflakes falling in and melting from her body warmth "The Hollow would get cold, but never had water falling from the sky in all these different forms."

"That is off the subject, we nee-" Gyules would slip on ice hidden underneath snow, falling right onto his back pretty hard.

"Revive me!" Mora rolled her eyes and would take his hand and begin pulling him up only to start slipping her. Her legs slid apart and she is flailing her arms as she falls back, but once she starts to adjust she begins falling forward and her hands were touching the ground. Gyules would begin attempting to stand up, slowly moving towards and began climbing up the side of it to slowly get up. Once fully standing he slipped a little but was holding on. Gyules would move a little along the side of the building and towards an area with no ice. He walked over to Mora who would reach over and he would take her hand, pulling to just land.

"That was more intense than when Skorge attacked!" she said "What the fuck is wrong with that ground!? Its so slippery there is no traction!"

"Ice, someone must have poured a lot of water or...I see." He points up and part of an old water tower fell and had spilled. They would look to the ice and see it was a bit brown, the water was dirty. A guy would be walking behind them with a wet floor sign and saw the two.

"Oh hey, sorry we just realized our mistake. This water tower was being scrapped and we blew apart one of the legs and the water spilled. We thought it of no harm but everything froze last night. So...yeah."

"You could have done so earlier!" shouted Mora "We almost died!" Gyules facepalmed a bit as she said that.

"Errrr...very sorry ma'am." The man would walk over and put the sign there while someone would walk around to the other side and put another sigh. He took some tape would begin put that in front of the area. Mora seemed a bit annoyed.

"His inefficiency is upsetting." Gyules rolled his eyes and before he could bring up something else on the man knowing him she would put a gloved finger to his lips.

'I do not wanna hear anymore about that man knowing who I am. You are such a hardass much of the time, you need to relax!"

"Its kind of hard to relax when the world is dying and the government is gone."

"You do not need a government to relax, just other people and things to do!" she said "You are going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep worrying for everyone's safety."

"And if someone does not they will die."

"I have faith that they can survive without your constant glorious guidance of holiness! Now come on, you have been stressed for a while, there has been to be something here you find fun to do."

"I could but..." Gyules would look back to his Lancer and then back to her "I would probably be shot and we would be kicked out." Mora rolls her eyes and grabs his hand.

"C'mon, lets explore a little!" She would be pulling Gyules who would be standing fine. She fell a little as she realized he was not coming. Mora tried once more to pull him and he remained still.

"C'mon!"  
>"I do not want to."<p>

"Err...hmm...I will call my mother!"

"You have no communication."

"There are locusts about, I can sneak away and find one and they will transfer a message until it reaches my mother. Then she comes and kills the entire town."

"It will never reach."

"What if it does? I can fake tears and when she comes, oh you will be tortured so badly!"

"You would have me brutally murdered because I refuse to relax."

"Yes!"  
>"You would never."<p>

"Sure about that?"

"Certainly." The two looked at each other for a while and then Mora would break first.

"...Okay! Fine, I would not do so. But its not nice to be around you if you are always-" She was cut off as the ground around them began to shake. The two would look about and a stalk would begin to arise from the street where the ice is, breaking it.

"Shit the glowies are still coming here." said Gyules taking out his Lancer. The stalk broke through the ground and bent to the water tower, knocking it off and just resting on the building. A pod appeared in the arch and one facing away from Gyules and Mora. A drudge dropped from the arch pod and began to puke imulsion at them. Mora too a step back and Gyules would charge at it and hit the Drudge, though slipping on the ice himself knocking them both over. He slammed his Lancer into the gut of it and activated it, then pulled it out and quickly shoved it, forcing the drudge to slide away. It began to glow and react before blowing up. Gyules began trying to get up, but it was too slippery and fell back over. A Lambent Drone dropped from the arch and then another pod formed towards the rooftop and several glowies were coming onto the roof.

"Shit man." he said and would activated his radio as he fired his Lancer at the glowie beforehand. "Guys, we got Lambent!"

"No shit! I am on a rooftop now shooting the infected fucks!"

"They are at the gate and attacking a caravan. I am wiping them clean." Aiden stated and they could hear a boomshot fire over the radio and the sound of a drudge starting to blow up.

"The groceries are safe. I repeat, the grocieres are safe. I found some good things you will like." he said.

"Get those safe at the house and assist whomever you can." he said "We gotta protect these people!" Gyules would get off the ice on the other side and looked to Mora who was trying to shield herself at a proper angle from the glowies on the rooftop. Gyules would shoot at a glowie that fell towards him and picked up the Hammerburst II covered in Imulsion.

"MORA!" She looked over to him and he would slide the gun across the ice and to the ground. She ran over to it and Gyules would shoot at a Glowie aiming at her, then reloaded as he killed him. She took the Hammerburst and would begin shooting at a second glowie on the roof. She would be looking down the shot, fallen on the ground and firing into his head. Two shots and the thing would explode. Gyules would active reload and shoot the pod while she aimed for the one on the roof. A few shoots and the pod would explode, the stalk dying.

Mora would begin reaching over for a hammerburst of a fallen Lambent and would begin taking the magazine from it and putting it in a pocket on her belt, which was an old ammo belt from COG armour. She merely crossed over the COG Gear and did her best to get rid of that.

The belt is of no concern as a stalk would raise behind her and nearly killed her. This stalk rose high with three pods forming, one right by her, another at the height of the buildings facing to their right, and one more at the very top facing on the side away from Mora. A lambent drone would come out of the one by Mora and was about to attack her, when they heard two shots and the drone looked over. The drone did not see, but the two shots destroyed the uppermost pod, another two shots would destroy the medium pod and then the lowest one quickly. The drone was looking over, as was Mora. Gyules was working on positioning himself to kill the drone, only for a shot to go through his head and imulsion exploded all over Mora.

"Are you okay!?" shouted a voice with a thick Gorasni Accent. A man was on the rooftop with a Markza, dressed in sleeker, UIR sniper armour. The man had slightly darker skin and short dark hair and brown eyes. The man's face bore a large scar, a large cut from some sort of blade went across his face vertically. It went right over his nose and had appeared to get a little deeper into his nose.

"Y-yes. I am fine. Is that a..."

"Markza, Gorasni sniper rifle." he would jump down from the rooftop as Gyules was barely making it over to her.

"You can fight"

"Errr...yeah."

"Good, let us continue." he said and would take a running jump to the building across from them. He jumped up to above the doorway and would begin climbing up the place proving quite nimble. The man made it to the top with ease and was looking through his sniper rifle for Lambent. Gyules would seem a bit angrier and merely picked up Mora, holding her bridal style, and began to run so they can go clean up the Lambent. Mora was to protest, but she liked to be carried so she did not complain as he ran with her.

Gyules would be running with her towards an active stalk he could see a few meters away. He observed there had been seven stalks in total in this attack, though they dealt with the first two. The majority of them were centered to the main entrance of the town. Gyules would keep running and then another stalk rose up in front of them and knocked the two on the ground. It was a smaller stalk going to the height of the building and with one pod. Out of the pod would come a Gunker that began to make a roaring like noise.

"SHIT!" shouted Gyules and got down, dropping Mora. The knife arm would go right over them and then he would swap his weapons for his retro lancer and began to open fire on it from below. Mora would be firing on it at well, aiming for the head. The creature would swing its knife at them once more and the two rolled over to dodge it. Gyules would stand up and stab his blade into the knife arm while its outstretched. Using much of his own strength against the creature's, Gyules would force the arm on the ground and began to deplete the clip of the lancer, doing his best to also hold it in place. The bullets would rip through the flesh and remove the arm, causing the Gunker to moan in pain and wold begin preparing a glob to fire at them. Gyule would struggle a bit to get the knife out and then did so and changed the clip. The creature is weakening as the former arm leaks imulsion and Mora is still firing. The gunk blob would be ready and it would try to roll it into Gyules. He narrowly dodged it, but the imulsion would graze and burn him a bit.

"Ah shit...that hurts." he said and would then begin firing at it. He would rip through it and then Mora fired the last shot. The creature began to glow light from it and expand. The two rushed behind cover and were safe as the creature exploded.

"That was way too damned close!" she shouted.

"Not close enough." shouted Gyules. The two would exit cover and see now that the stalk was dead as the explosion killed the pod.

"Hey, how is the fighting!?" asked Gyules.

"Groceries are safe."

"The Lambent are being pushed out, the caravan did a lot of help and we have most of the stalks dead. Just look up and you will see the stalks are dead." said Tanner "I am going to work to destroy the rest, then let us meet up. This caravan is packing serious heat."

"Alrighty, we will meet at the house."

"Got it!" said Aiden.

"Likewise." said Tanner.

"I am already here." said Osman. Gyules would start walking towards the hous.

"Wait we are not gonna go aid them? There are Lambent left in few yes, but they could still kill some people!"

"They will finish by the time we get there and besides. They got enough men there, we would probably be just in the way. If you pile too many people against too few troops, there is less cover for everyone and people can get in the way when you are trying to get to a proper spot or flank an enemy. I could list many more reasons and even give a big spiel about the harm grenades can do to your own team, but you get the picture." he said.

"Alright then. Know who that guy was who saved me?"

"No idea. He is Gorasni, Tanner should know."

"Odd." Mora's face would blush as she thought of him.

"His skill and precision was most excellent. He took out an entire stalk alone whereas it takes you and I to kill one of those!"

"I could kill a stalk on my own if there were no Lambent out and I was on a rooftop."

"Oh right, I see you fight."

"And I killed Skorge for you! So what I cannot kill a stalk like that fucker! I still got more experience than him!"

"He probably was older than you. After all you are only like what? Twenty five?"

"So what I am young! Just because I am young doesn't mean I am bad at combat compared to him. Besides I thought you hated humans!"

"I do hate humans, I hate them with a passion, but I dunno. Something about him clicked, felt nice to me in a way...I dunno and I do not need to explain myself to you."

"Well do not fangirl over him."

"Fangirl?"

"Obsess."

"I would never do so with a human."

"Right..." The two would arrive to their house, seeing Osman waiting outside.

"Hey man, find anything with Mora?"

"No, she just met a Gorasni she has a crush on."

"I thought she liked you."

"I do not bear this 'crush' on anyone! Unless its a desire to-"

"We know, you are trying to be tough." Gyules would sit on the ground against the wall and Osman would toss him a pack of cigarettes.

"I got you cancer sticks."

"I have been needing these, so bad. You are a life saver."

"Kind of contradictory there, what you said." Gyules would smirk a bit as he would look for his lighter. He would open a little pocket and withdrew the item from it, pulling out a silver lighter. He put the cigarette in his mouth and would light it.

"I also got beer. Its made by the locals, but its still alcohol."

"Did you test it?"

"I did, you will not go blind. We will survive."

"Love ya man."

"He will get ideas!" shouted Tanner as he would be walking up. Aiden was alongside him. Aiden would walk over to Osman.

" I got information. Turns out the Stranded at the station have been spreading news of Mora. When the fight with Skorge occurred in the station, a few were actually watching whilst hidden. They made up the story and got it dead on, trade caravans spread it to here."

"Did not consider that. Thanks Aiden." Aiden would signal Gyules to come a bit close and then he would whisper to him: "They have the entire town bugged. I went back while you were out and took out the bugs in our house, but other areas...nothing we say is safe."

"Then only speak of our investigation of the church in our home." Gyules commanded, though whispered silently so just their squad could hear.

The man from before could be seen walking up, escorting a Gorasni woman. She had jet black dark hair in a ponytail, light brown skin, and appeared to have aged well. Almost unaffected by the war even. She wore just average clothing. Specifically consisting of a black shirt with light coloured pants that seemed to be a bit tight on her legs, but not constricting. She had obviously been wearing make up, so she appeared much younger than her actual age. She bore a boltok strapped to her pants and few ammo pouches consisting of ammo for it. Course everyone had to have that.

Tanner would see her and appeared a bit frightened. He would be slowly stepping away, trying to sneak into the house.

"Youkahainen" the man stated just as Tanner reached the door. He froze with fear and would look back to him.

"Do-do I know you good sir?"

"You are the strangest named Gorasni I know."

"Half Tyran."

"Right...anywhom. I-"

"Tanner." the girl stated grimly. "Why did you run away from me."

"Well I, err...you see! The COG was having this great offer I could not refuse and I-"

"You left me at the alter in Halvo Bay, the city was attacked by Karn later that day and nearly destroyed by him. You left me there, and you left me to die." Her voice sounded emotionless, likewise she showed very little.

"How was I to know he would come!? I still got stuck fighting there you know!"

"I was forced to fend off Locusts in my wedding dress. You need punishment for that!" Before Tanner could say anything she would shove two of her fingers into his eyes.

"AH SHIT!" he cursed and would grip his eyes. She would slam his head into the wall and then began to drag him by his left ear. Tanner would be protesting and trying to get her to let go.

"May I use your house? I will clean the blood."

"Just don't break him too much. We still need our snippy."

"Will do." She opened the door and would walk in.

"What was that about?" asked Osman.

"Just as they said. Youkahainen was to marry her after the Pendulum wars. Instead E-day had come and the two were to marry in Halvo Bay, which originally had repelled the Locusts easily and was safe. Instead he left her and joined the COG at the fight."

"I remember Halvo Bay. I was young then, but it was still the best fight I had ever been in." Aiden stated, joyful with memories.

"Karn's strategy of piling Locusts proved most ineffective and it was one of the Locust's biggest defeats." Mora was to comment, but then Gyules looked to her. He did not want her to expose that she is a Locust to this man. Only the man would turn to Mora.

"Did you know Karn?"

"What!? Why I, well..."

"You are Princess Moragna, the church spoke highly of housing you." She seemed bit angry and the guys all looked disappointed and annoyed. Their secret is being exposed and protecting Mora is going to be much of a hassle.

"Now we got to kill them all, man I do not think we got the explosives for that." said Osman.

"Please...do not spread this knowledge. But I will confess...I knew Karn but I was little."

"You knew Karn?" Gyules said, standing up a bit more.

"He was a mastermind as driving the Lambent out of cities. When mother announced she would attack the humans to our generals, Karn gathered books on human psychology and would be reading them as he prepared forces. To face humans, he prepared a variety of units, but his training was unequal. The average drone knew only the basics, whereas many Maulers went through the upgrade to Onyx, the Kantus were taught to lead squads, and he promoted a lot of Therons. He also brought the Ragers into the battlefield which is something you should not do."

"I fought Ragers." said Osman "The crystal red guys. They usually reside around Halvo Bay. If they come enraged in numbers they are tough, but that scarcely happens. Instead they just died easily."

"Yeah, most Locusts refuse to use them. If they ever get frustrated they attack, so that leads to a lot of infighting. Usually we put them down if a Locust is born so. Karn chose to breed more and used them after the attack of Gorasnya. He gave them breechshots oddly enough forcing them at medium to long range. He was terrifying, but he had not died at Halvo Bay, he would have been executed. His casualties at that battle severely harmed our numbers." Mora sounded like an expert on this and Karn himself.

"Personally, he loved his Shibbolith and would let me pet it or play with it. Even got it a new leg when it lost one. Saddened me when he died, he was a good Locust." She sat down upon the ground and all of the guys were listening intently, rather interested.

"He still inflicted heavy casualties and we even lost a Lightmass missile against him. Course that thing missed..." explained Gyules "The COG used it as an example to motivate many soldiers. Course they also congratulated Loomis when if one looks his strategy was awful even if he was fighting the UIR. He did not allow them to use the enemy's weapons!"

"I love my Boomshot." said Aiden taking it off her back and hugging it "Forbidding weapon scavenging is absurd. Orders such as so cause casualties."

"Well I am glad the both of them are dead."

"May we know your name as well." asked Gyules.

"I am Borusc Marisc. I am from the caravan and settling within the town to help construct and improve the working of buildings and defenses. As well as construct guns and mods for guns."

"I think we will do without mods, but have fun with that." Osman would state as he looked to the sky.

"Be sure to visit sometime." said Mora "Should be nice to be in contact with more humans than these guys or the neighbors." He looks back to her and smiles a little.

"I will certainly do so." Gyules on the other hand would be hoping some Lambent were left to get him, his face blushing a bit as he is mad. He knew one thing he could do to win over Mora a bit more, but was not certain. He pondered a little while she waved goodbye to him and finally said so.

"Mora..."

"Yes?"

"How about you and I go...have that fun you were talking of. Whatever you got in mind."

"Alright. As long as you are not tired from fighting."

"Being shot never tired me before, it shouldn't have then." he said smiling a little. Mora would begin to walk off with him leading, the two talking on what to do.

"Oh he is jealous." said Osman.

"Did that even need to be stated?" Tanner opened the door and fell out, his face is fairly scratched up and his nose bleeding. He is without his chest piece of armour and one can see has large a bruise in the left portion of his chest, among many smaller bruises and cuts on his body.

"That bitch is crazy!" said Tanner holding the door closed, panting quite a bit. He can hear her calling him from behind the door, saying taunting comments and lovey dovey nicknames.

"So she is your fiance?"

"If I didn't marry her I wouldn't get my inheritance. Course I ran out as soon as I learned my parents died in the attack on Gorasnaya."

"What is her name?"

"Ilian Treska. If you see her, do not tell her my position! I am going to go hide!" he said. He would run off and to his best of abilities the opposite way Mora and Gyules went. The door would open and she was standing there perfectly untouched, only her hair was down.

"Where did he go?"

"I dunno, if you want you can wait for him."

"Thank you for the offer, but I must make sure he is faithful."

"Alright, want us to make sure also?"

"I thank you once more. Please do so."

"Got it, I would hate it if my man did that to me anyways, so it must suck for you. At least you forgive him for running off." She would not answer that as she ran off in the direction footprints lead to, figuring they were his.

The End


	18. Chapter 18 Snowed In

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 18: Snowed In

Mora would be looking outside through the new window they put in place. It had been a week ago since they met Borusc. They got rid of a board and now had actual glass there. They even had some furniture, which was a hassle to get in. Entertaining to watch for Mora though. Each room had a bed, Mora had received the largest bed as she 'borrowed' money and bought it. Rather she stole money from the neighbors.

It was snowing heavily outside, something she had never seen. It was building up to the point of where they had some difficulty opening the door. It was a blizzard out there basically and freezing in there, so Mora was forced to wear a coat. Unluckily most of Omega was out, only Mora and Aiden were in the home.

"Hey Aiden..." she said and would turn to the large Islander who was sitting at the table, eating a strew he prepared from roadkill.

"What do you desire of me young one?"

"What is a fiance? Mother taught me to be fluent in your language, to the point of where its my first language, but she never taught me that word."

"Fiance is someone people are to be married to. I assume you do not know what a marriage is, or even dating. Locusts do not appear to do so."

"I do not comprehend it. Why stay with someone if you are just gonna breed with them." Aiden sighed looking down and would look back up to her.

"Humans are different than Locusts. Humans settle together and do focus on breeding. We find partners usually of the opposite sex and enter a relationship, doing things to show love such as kissing or sex. Usually precautions are taken to stop the girl from breeding and parents raise their children."

"Oh, so that is a family...sounds like what mother did with me. Only she was not...well..."

"I know I know. The two were not married, but still worked together to take care of you as their child. Though you describe your mother acted as a teacher."

"Father recounts that she had me in her stomach for nine months and Kantus were on constant watch to help her with any pain, though they used some sort of human medicine to help they stole from the surface."

"I see, but are you understanding."

"I think so, I saw a little bit of it with others and Osman explained a little also earlier. Is that exactly what you guys mean by when you say Gyules wants to be with me."

"We suspect him of desiring to form a relationship with you yes, many times when humans have feelings they hide it with hatred. We like to hide it, nervous of rejection. Gyules is not good at opening up really to anyone. He has lived most of his life on the front lines of warfare."

"Has he opened to you before?"

"A little, him and I share a bond as warriors. Only during the Pendulum Wars I was eager to start fighting, Gyules was born in a Pesang hospital, but sadly that region was often under attack by the Shaoshi. So he lived much of his life dealing with terrorism from those who supported Shaoshi."

"Is that just basic knowledge about Pesang, how do you know he dealt with it?"

"I was the original Sargent in charge of Omega squad and I was given his background info. When we went on our first mission to close a few E-holes I was stripped of my rank for my reckless behavior. I went ahead of the mission and caused COG equipment to be destroyed to collapse part of the hollow and kill a Corpser. So they demoted me and got us a new Sargent. Back then though it was only I, Tanner, Gyules, Tabitha, and Day. Day was promoted to Sargent then."

"Oh, interesting." sad Mora taking a seat in a chair across from him.

"Though in his portfolio from what I read, Gyules had a hard life. His parents loved him a lot, but they had to move onto a farm which his uncle owned when pregnant with him, both of them discharged from the war effort for him. He grew up a tough life taking care of farm matters and often dealing with scavengers trying to steal from the farm or at one point in time the Shaoshi attacked the farm while he was nine and killed his uncle and wrecking the farm. The family signed back up with the military and was working medical services where he was taught to and they remained there until the city was destroyed by Locusts when Gyules was sixteen. He got into the army then two years underage, but no one seemed to care." explained Aiden.

"I have never been to a farm or worked on one, but is that why he does not relax?"

"Its mostly just a lot of work caring for animals and plants so a mass population may eat. Doing that work and fending off scavengers might have made him a bit too rough. His mother died before him also when the city fell. He got in a relationship with Tabitha who died before him and his father died in the past before him. He is scared to lose anyone under his command is what his main problem is."

"I figured so...but thinking about it..." Mora had no idea what she would do if her mother died. She loved her mother, as much as Myrrah did not show it, she cared for her. Raam's death was hard enough as is. He knew he was going to die was the worst part, the train could not be stopped but he had to save the Hollow. Alas that Lightmass bomb caused more trouble than solved. Since it used imulsion in its explosion, the survivors of it were turned Lambent. Lambent survivors turned into Drudges or various minor forms that died off.

The door would be kicked open and Gyules would fall to the floor shivering with much ice and snow blown onto him. A small icicle is coming from his nose. Unlike Tanner and Osman walking in, Gyules went out without a coat, hat, or any added warmth besides his COG armour. Tanner and Osman would push him aside, both wearing thick fur coats and wool hats. Tanner had a scarf wrapped around his head, but Osman did not. Osman would force the door closed and Tanner held up their prize.

"We got chocolate! Cocoa for hot chocolate and a few candy bars!" Tanner held up a box just saying Chocolate that contained these things. He would place it on the table and Gyules would crawl to a seat.

"Oh my worms, you are freezing!" shouted Mora and would run off. She came back downstairs with the bed from her blanket and wrapped it around her. Gyules was about to thank her when he sneezed and the icicle from his nose impaled into the table.

"Oh I am glad that thing is out." he said "Can someone get me some tissues?"

"I got sandpaper."

"...No." Aiden tosses him a piece of old paper and Gyules sneezes into it. His nose is running a bit and he appears quite ill. Mora would put her hand on his head to check for a fever.

"He is burning up."

"Yet he was just in a blizzard!" said Tanner as he was forcing the door closed. The wind is fighting against it, but he manages to close it.

"So I vote we have a nice relaxing evening trying to warm up while the blizzard snows out everyone outside."

"I just love winter." said Osman sitting down "While it makes it hard to travel, it snows out the enemy and Locusts cannot really fight."

"Its because they are reptiles and they live in the hollow. We don't exactly have weather!"

"Well I am not complaining." said Gyules and would cough a little. He would cough a lot more than and would groan a little.

"Toss me your coat Osman, I will get it up" offered Tanner. Osman would throw him the coat and hat, muttering a quiet thanks and then Tanner would head upstairs. He went to Osman's room and put the coat on a coat rack and the hat on top. He walked over to his room and opened the door.

Tanner opened the door to find Ilian sitting on his bed in lingerie. Specifically consisting of a black bra connected to semi see through black silk around her chest and connecting to her biceps, hanging down a bit. She just had on black underwear for a bottom. She was sitting specifically so her chest was out a bit and her hair was down rather than a ponytail. She was wearing a fair amount of makeup well applied.

Tanner would appear a bit pale and his nose began to bleed. He blushed a little and then noticed Ilian was smiling slyly. Tanner, rather than what is expected, grew angry.

"What are you doing in my room!? Hell, why are you in my house?!"

"I was hoping to excite and pleasure you a little. Did I do something wrong?" She turned away and put her hands to her cheek, though did not show much more emotion than that.

"Why-well...I mean...Oh c'mon! You are just trying to guilt me! I know you Ilian, if I 'let you pleasure me' you will hang it over my head and I will be married to you in my sleep! Hence now you just taunt me."

"I apologize for causing you distrust, but you are my fiancee."

"I am not! I ran away! My parents would only give me my inheritance if I married you and everything they had was kind of eaten by Kryll! So therefore I am not marrying you! I do not even desire to be in a relationship with you or-" He would be cut short by her sobbing.

"You, you don't wanna be with me!" she said, her face in her hands "You think I am crazy don't you! That I am fat and crazy!"

"What!? No I don't think you are fat, but crazy yes!"

"So I am just too crazy for you then!? Am I!?"

"...Yes. Now maybe if you can tone it down and maybe hurt me less...I could...well..."

"Oh you are just being nice!" she said and turned away "You want me out of your life and to rot and die!"

"Now you know I am never nice." Tanner stated and sighed. He would sit down on the bed besides her and rubbed her back a little.

"Just do not go this extreme with trying to marry me. I do not want you dead or out of my life. I just-"

"Great! I am glad you admitted it." she said turning away. Ilian had never been crying in the first place, her makeup was perfectly fine. She got up and would begin putting on her clothes in the corner. "Since you are denying the sex, I will just stay here the night in your room then. That blizzard is far too harsh and to send anyone out there is something the COG would do. You are an Indie by heart Tanner, I know you never would." Tanner sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh all days for you to do this." he said. She would get on her pair of combat pants removed the silky top over her bra. She put that in a bag she brought with herself.

"Just remember Youkahainen." She would put on her shirt before turning to him and smiling joyfully "If you ever cheat on me I will force you to eat your own severed genitalia!" If one had only listened to the tone of her voice, they would feel quite happy, as harsh of the comment as it was. Tanner gulped, for he knew the threat would come through if he did so. She would walk past him and downstairs to the guys.

"Hey Ilian!" Mora said, putting her hand up to wave to her.

"Hey Mora!' she said walking over to the girl and then observed on the table was a box filled with chocolate, though they had dissected a few packs from it to make hot chocolate with their new kitchen set up. Nothing fancy, just a few things to cook meals and whatnot. Osman would be making them the Hot Chocolate.

"You are still in our house?" Mora stated with surprise.

"I was waiting for my husband."

"I AM NOT HER HUSBAND!" shouted Tanner running.

'My mistake, fiancee." He groans a bit and would sigh. Tanner just cannot win against her. He would walk downstairs and sit at their table across from Gyules, who is being tended to by Mora. Whereas normally he would fight her off, this time he is a bit too sick to.

"I told you man. You cannot just endure the cold." Gyules glared at him.

"Just...oh shut up. Do not need your mockery." He slams his head into the table and merely stays like so. Mora and Ilian would be talking together and the guys all seemed a bit confused, other than Osman.

"When did you tow become friends!?" asked Tanner.

"She visits here a lot to check up on you or sometimes watch you while you sleep. So here and I got to know each other while doing so."

"I had to confirm my fiancee was not after her so I talked with her."

"Not worried of Mora going after me?" The rest of the room would respond with "No", other than Gyules saying: "Hell no!"

"I did discover she is a decent young girl, she hardly seems broken at all from the war. Her endurance is incredible." Course the guys know that she was living in luxury while they were fighting on the front lines and sleeping in fear that the ground will swallow them at night. Osman would walk over to them smiling holding a tray with six mugs of hot chocolate.

"Wait...you specifically got six?" Tanner observed.

"Ilian confronted me before coming over here. Well...she sent Borusc, but yeah. Be thankful for her, thanks to her we got a discount. You obviously did not look at the prices."

"I had to give away my Torque Bow to get our chocolate and supplies!"

"We would have had to throw in my Lancer."

"Lancers are quite valuable. While you COG are in grand supply, the Stranded and Gorasni are without. We are down to scrapping parts, or if we are lucky we will find some supplies to refurbish metals so we can make more, but the Mark 2 Lancer is becoming harder and harder to find. Most Stranded ares tuck using the Hammerburst II due to how many the Locusts mass produced." Ilian explained.

"It does not help with the Lambent raiding armories and corpses, as their guns are usually covered in Imulsion and not always fit to use." Osman added.

"Oh, yes Ilian. How long is your Caravan to remain in town?"

"A while. The roads are blocked"

"By the snow?" Gyules muttered in confusion as he was handed his hot coffee. He would begin drinking from it, holding it with both hands. The guys were all drinking their drinks and Mora would seem a bit excited.

"This is good!" she exclaimed, but then realized she was interrupting.

"Sorry, carry on Ilian. I will enjoy this in peace." Ilian looked over at them and would Idrink hers a little.

"No, a Stalk came out for some Lambent and Locust skirmishes outside of town and caused a few rocks to fall and block the road. I am going to stay here as well with Borusc and take care of my fiancee, but they have to search for a new way. Locusts and Lambent will probably attack anyone who tries to clear it."

"Oh great..." muttered Tanner. She would scoot her seat a bit closer to his. Tanner scooted away and then she pulled him closer. Gyules laughed a little.

"So how exactly did you two meet and come to make his parents want to...?" asked Osman.

"Well we-"

"No, you will lie." Tanner interrupted "Or exaggerate love or some shit! Look, my family was good friends with hers and we knew each other as kids. Nothing special nor were we best of friends, but friends. Course when we were teenagers they had an arranged marriage planned."

"I didn't know the UIR did such things." said Osman.

"They don't usually, my family just knew she liked me and well..."

"Tanner never had many friends and they wanted to force him to interact with the one person who cared for him. I was perfectly willing, and he was threatening to lose his inheritance. To delay it and hopefully think of a plan, he signed up with the army. I know he loves me."

'I do not!" Ilian would stab a bloody knife into the table.

"So we are clear and you do not say that again."

"I may not be one for relationships, but I think you two are cute together." said Mora.

"Well, what about you and Gyules?"

"What about us?" she said, perfectly unaware of what she means.

"You speak highly of him, promote his skills as a warrior and ability with most weapons. Almost worthy of a UIR soldier." Gyules was about to say something, but then coughs a bit more and feels too bad. He merely places his head back down on the table and decides to keep it there, basically dead to the conversation.

"Well he is my friend and our squad leader. I do not exactly desire to form any such relationship as you and Tanner have. My future is still uncertain anyways." she said and would silently sip her Hot Chocolate. While Ilian had more than likely learned, Osman would break the silence before they discuss more on it.

"So does everyone like their chocolate? Did I make it right?"

"It is quite enjoyable, we never had such things on Irohma." Aiden stated. Gyules would groan a bit, but then gave him a thumbs up.

"Drink it before it cools to normal chocolate." Mora stated lifted up his head. He would sigh a bit and decided not to argue with her, drinking the hot chocolate.

"You have never mentioned much of Irohma Island." said Osman "What was that like before the UIR attacked?"

"Irohma Island was a true paradise. We were not advanced, but we were not in a need for technology. We merely lived by our beliefs and with our weapons, farming the land but not destroying vasts amount of nature. Course that all changed when the UIR killed most of us and the COG had to evacuate the islands."

"I was not exactly apart of that, but sorry." said Tanner "Chain of Command stated our reason for attacking was merely because your people were allied with the COG. The guy leading it was an asshole who did not like tribals."

"I bear resentment solely for the one who demanded the attack and agreed to it, but not for the troops. A soldier is but a weapon when commanded. They kill who they are told to kill and are expected to follow orders. Besides, it was that battle that made me even join the COG. Most of the Irohma survivors joined who were evacuated."

"But what did you do before though?" asked Osman "We know nothing of your life."

"Because it was simple. I lived with my parents and raised livestock, built things around the town and prayed to the temple."

"I see, meh I miss my caravan life."

"You worked in a caravan?" asked Ilian.

"Most of my family just lived together in a traveling caravan. We made and traded things, wandering through provinces. Basically like gypsies but we never cursed anyone. Our lifestyle really improved when the Locusts began to attack. We were all trained for combat in case someone wanted to steal from and we managed to slip past Locusts and take from what they destroyed. We fixed up whatever guns they dropped and would sometimes even ambush them to steal their ammo, weapons, general supplies."

"What happened then?" asked Mora, having never heard this story.

"These wonderful assholes of friends saved my life." said Osman "The caravan made a mistake in an ambush. We took down a Brumak and figured it was just a patrolling one, but then it turns out we had approached a battlefield. My family was not equipped and began to flee before we were noticed. Except we accidentally made a bit of noise and a Berserker ran from the fight at us. I took a Gnasher and began trying to lead it away, running off and thinking I would find my way back.

"Instead the Berserker slammed me into a tree and was to tear me apart. Omega was fighting and Tabitha began to burn the beast while Gyules shot at it with his retro lancer. The two played around with it, Tabitha burning and Gyules shooting. The thing never hit them as they took it down. I owed them a debt, so I took up a rifle and followed the group to their fight, joining in and got the pleasure of signing up with Omega."

"I remember how scared you were, you pissed yourself when that thing lifted you up." Gyules stated smiling a little. He punched his friend in the shoulder playfully and then Osman smiled.

"Don't get me sick bro."

"But I was the first member of Omega guys! I have been here since Halvo Bay! So, I get the right to say this." Tanner would stand up quite proudly and exclaimed: "First!"

"Yet the COG never split us up, for racial reasons. So let us toast!" said Osman. The members of Omega lifted their cups and would clang them together, shouting: "To racism!"

"Racism?" Ilian said confused.

"Gyules is half Pesang, Aiden is an Islander, I am a damned gypsy traveler, and Tanner is an Indie. Conway kept us together because he believed we would be picked off easier and not worthy. Hell Tabitha was a Kashkur and Conway had Day promoted because he was the only full blooded Tyran. It seems even as the Locusts invade and attack, they still separated people like so."

"Hell, many still wanted to use tactics used on the UIR against them!" Aiden laughed "Those tactics got people killed!"

"Like the Onyx Guard you mean?" Gyules said.

"Oh lord the Onyx Guard! They scarcely ever are pulled into combat, but can anyone name a fight they won?" asked Tanner "Fuck man I was sniping at the Museum of Military Glory and those guys were falling faster than the normal gears, I was killing more than them!"

"Even I witnessed their fall." Ilian confessed "In my wedding attire and heels I was killing more Locusts. They tried to set up base in the church while the Locusts were running all about. It was just pathetic."

"Even I have killed Onyx guards." Mora said smiling "After RAAM was teaching me to shoot I wanted to lead a squad and I was given permission. I was still young, but he had it heavily monitored. We ran into Onyx Guards and I got to kill three." The guys would all laugh at that.

"The girl who got scared by a drudge and didn't even know how to reload a Shotgun killed three 'elite' COG units. God, no wonder we disbanded!" said Gyules and would seem to feel a bit better. They would still laugh, even Mora did, though Gyules began coughing in mid laugh.

"But..." she said and would walk off towards the couch. She pulled out from under it a Sawed-Off Shotgun. She tossed it to Aiden and he opened it.

"She loaded the gun!" The guys laughed a bit and Osman clapped.

"Now we can never recapture her!" She smiled and would be walking back to the table before she tripped in her boots. She cursed as she struggled to stand, but fell forward and right onto Gyules, knocking him out of his chair. Some dust would be pounded out of the ground and everyone just lifted up their cups, though it was not that high. Mora looked down to Gyules and then realized, her chest had landed in his face. His face was a deep red and would begin getting up, his nose now bleeding.

"Sorry Gyules." Gyules was about to say that it was fine, before he began to get ready for a sneeze. He sneezed once more and blood would be sprayed out and onto Mora.

"Ah...shit. This is disgusting, I am going to go change!" she said and began to walk upstairs.

"Yeah I am gonna drink the rest of this in my room and pass out." said Gyules "Maybe its because I am ill, but I think its time we all hit the hay."

"Yeah I agree." said Osman.

"I will be sharing a room with you Tanner."

"Couch for-" Ilian takes the knife out of the table and sheathes it, but then grabs a lighter.

"Okay you will burn the couch and reimburse us. I will just head to my room and we will happen to share a bed together."

"Better." she said. Osman and Aiden would head upstairs and silence, all of them heading upstairs. The group would sleep away as the blizzard outside froze the Locusts who had been trying to invade the town were frozen and buried. They hadn't even managed to cause any destruction, even their existence would only be known when the snow is removed and their corpses are exposed.

The End.


	19. Chapter 19 Jacob

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 19: Jacob

A week or so after that, Mora and Gyules would be digging through the snow alongside a few others Stranded. The snowfall was still heavy, but they had been pushing aside much of the snow against the walls. Gyules is recovering from his illness, but still sneezes at times. He also recently got his tattoo on his chest removed, so he wore average clothes today, specifically a jacket and a T-shirt. His chest was in massive pain, but he was dealing with it.

People have dug up Locust bodies and weapons, giving out the weapons and ammunition to people on the walls. So far at least thirties frozen Locusts have been dug up, but not they are not savage. A few were wielding Gorasni weapons, which Tanner had been excited about earlier. He got himself a functioning Markza.

"Ew, I never fought against this guy." Gyules stated as he dug out a lithe Locust. It appeared a lot more human than the rest and was dressed in little armor and cloth

"Oh, humans call those Ragers." said Mora "Karn specifically employed these into his army and most stayed at Halvo Bay. They are a rare breed of Locust. I can infer from Mother's intel they were from some sort of special experiment at the facility. They can grow crystals on their back and charge like a Berserker, only not as strong. Sadly a result of this is that they are always hermaphrodites. They can breed with each other, but are viewed anyways. Karn is one of the few people who actually employed them in a fight. RAAM had them fighting against the Lambent usually."

"Odd, well either way according to the Stranded there are no holes in the wall. They must have climbed over, but either way we need constant security now." said Gyules "What if they got into any houses or were able to start a fire or something."

"Touche." said Mora "But these guys appear far more organized."

"Now is Karn going to be alive and attacking us?"

"No, Karn was a weakling. He piled on too many Locusts and while he did form many of the units Skorge would later form, he majorly cut our Kantus count and a few people tried to claim he planned E-day. Raam did."

"Wait, which kind of units?"

"The cyclops, which I do not understand and I have worn their helmets. The do not help, the Mauler itself, the Grinder he got access to armories for and allowed us to manufacture the COG mulcher, and a few other units. Mauler is a success though. Stole a few of mother's Bloodmounts even for his troops. Mother loves her bloodmounts so much as do I. They are so playful!" Mora seemed to be remembering a bit.

"I used to toss human heads and they would bring it back and begin gnawing on it. They would play dead when you asked them to or roll over, they did a lot of tricks. I wish we could find a few..." Gyules would look over to a dead Bloodmount, frozen in a pile of snow. It was partially dug out by him, but when she said that Gyules would kick some snow over it. He smiled a bit and stood in front of the lump of snow.

Borusc would come running over to the men and towards Mora. The two turned over to him, Mora and Gyules displayed opposite reactions. Gyules angry, Mora happy.

"What is it?"

"We have discovered what let the Locusts in, the Prophet wants to speak to you and the Princess."

"What the hell for?"

"I do not know, but nonetheless I shall be there as well. He wishes to discuss matters o the Locusts that penetrated our defenses during the blizzard. He has found out a possible reason."

"Then let us go." said Gyules. He would wait until Mora began to walk and went behind her. He would dispose of the bloodmount body later from her sight.

"Did he explain anything to you at all?" asked Mora.

"I was told by his Champion that I needed to gather you two. That creature should be put down."

"Agreed." said Gyules "You do not mind a midnight assassination of it?"

"I will not kill another creature who does not oppose me."

"I will do it myself maybe later then. Mora, you in?"

"No thanks. I am scared of it personally. I see it climbing up buildings and sometimes at night you can hear it howling or crying. The thing is clearly insane."

"Junders is not mad! Goddess is mad!" The Champion of the Church would state, having been following behind Gyules on all fours. Gyules quickly turned around to have Junders right in his face, shouting at him: "Pesang shall not kill Junders! JUNDERS WILL PREVAIL! Junders has truth, Junders has knowledge! You have lies and misunderstanding! You will suffer!"

Gyules hit the guy off of him and aimed his Lancer at him. Junders hissed and would begin climbing up the side of a building. Junders over at Mora who fall over and dodge. Junders hissed and Gyules fired his lancer at the man. He climbed up a building and got out of sight. He then looked over and saw Mora clutching his arm, she was frightened and clinging to Gyules when afraid.

"Its okay..." he said and she then let go of his arm. The two would keep walking to the church, trying to remain silent in afraid of that thing listening. Mora was still quite shaken by the recent event. They quickly arrived and would walk into the building. A women dressed in spiritual deep blue robes would signal them. Her face was covered by a hood and the robe was decorated by designs in gold. It was clearly quite old though. She had her head bowed and hands folded together in prayer as she lead them to circular stairs. Gyules and Mora groaned as they saw the large flight of stairs.

"Borusc, carry us!" Borusc would walk over to Gyules. Gyules just seemed confused as Borusc picked him up and began to carry him bridal style up the stairs.

"I will go back for you after he is up." stated the Gorasni. Mora rolled her eyes and would follow after them.

"You can put me down!" said Gyules.

"The princess asked me to, I will not go back on her command." He looked fairly annoyed as the man carried him up the stairs, Mora giggling at times because this was silly. After a few minutes of walking up the stairs they made it. At the top of the stairs they would find a sort of office area. The vines in the center of the church would be stabbed through the back of the room. The room had a desk in the center, at the corner there was a bed, and an alter across the bed. The Prophet was looking out a stain glass window to the city, observing explosions and gunfire in the far distance. Stalks would come out of the ground and would be killed.

"It is about time you arrived. We have Marauders in the distance." said the Prophet.

"I thought you had a different name than prophet, also we can take down any marauders the Lambent did not. I thought Locusts got more organized than that." Gyules stated, stepping forward. The prophet turned around to Gyules and walked over to him.

"No we got a Stranded group, they call themselves the Marauders, but some people call them the Anti-COG. They are led by a Jacob Ilima and these men have acted as an army out here against the Locusts since the Hammer first fell. He gathers whomever he can, sometimes forcing people into his group, and shoots anyone human or COG. He may have been trying to take our resources and had someone sneak in and open our gates, hoping someone would come in and kill us off."

"Not sure the Locusts didn't just tunnel in?" asked Borusc.

"We found the gates open after the blizzard and closed them, did not know Locusts came in until it began to go down. We can see out there where they are as well, now are you to finally go to represent our town?" asked the Prophet.

"I will do so, I do not know why we are all needed." Borusc stated.

"Protection and Mora might be able to convince him for peace. Woman have that ability."

"Well...alrighty then." said Mora slowly stepping away "Lets just get going." Borusc and Gyules shrugged as they began to walk down the stairs after Mora.

"I have been needing to get into some real combat for a while." said Gyules "I am getting rusty being your bodyguard."

"I am sorry I am too busy trying to live a human life as I am stuck with here. That guy just scares me though.

"I am expecting him to betray us."

"What reason does he have to betray us?" Borusc asked.

"He worships war and tries to get Locusts and Lambent to fight, it may have even been him who opened the gate or he is plotting something to fight with these people. We must be ready at all times."

"I am ready!" said Mora raising her Hammerburst in one hand and a Boltok in another. Her Hammerburst arm quickly began to give and she put it on her back. Gyules facepalmed and Borusc did not seem to care. They walked down the staircase. Mora complained about her legs at the bottom of the stairs. She continued to complain as they walked through the church.

"Ah, I hate walking so much!" she said.

"I was gonna have us take the APC to get there at least. Want me to get Osman to pull it up?"

"Yes please!" Gyules would open up radio contact.

"What is it man? I am busy!" Osman is trying to pick up a man in the bar as Gyules is contacting him.

"Can you pull up the APC to the church? Mora-"

"She is complaining because her legs hurt."

"No she twisted her ankle and we need to drive somewhere."

"Fine I will get Aiden too." Osman called Aiden over the radio.

"Aiden, can you please drive the APC to the church, Mora twisted her ankle and they need to go somewhere."

"Sure." Aiden hung up on him before Osman could thank him and walked out of the house to the APC. The three waited outside the church for a little bit of time until Aiden arrived and parked the APC in front of them. He opened the back door and tossed the keys to Gyules.

"Where are you heading to?"

" We got to meet with some sort of Stranded army outside of town That church leader guy wants us to since they could be a problem to security." explained Gyules.

"I assume diplomacy?"

"Possibly." he smirked and would walk into it.

"I have been dying to shoot some humans, can we do so? Please!?" she asked Gyules. Borusc glared at her, a bit annoyed at that comment.

"I am Locust, what do you expect?!" she said in reply to Borusc's glare "You know I would never shoot you."

"Still, not a smart thing to say in this town." he said as he retreated to the APC. Borusc would sit in back and Gyules took the driver seat. Mora would ride shotgun. She picked up from the foot area a Gnasher and held it up.

"Tanner keeps that there as a joke now. Now we just go to the gunfire right?" asked Gyules.

"Nothing we haven't done before." Gyules would put the vehicle in drive and get it out of town, past the gate, and began to follow whatever road seemed to lead to the newly dead stalks above the tree. At times he had to make to his own road, and at others had to drive over things that could potentially damage the APC beyond repair. Nonetheless, nothing really happened worth writing about, other than Mora's motion sickness from the rocky road.

The three arrived at what appeared to be once an old COG training camp near the town. More than likely the town was built because of the military base nearby. Stranded were on the gates with turrets and actual military grade weapons. A soldier standing right above the gate was wielding a polished Lancer in far better condition than Gyules' Lancer. Many of them wore old COG and UIR armour, with the symbols of the army marked out and instead 'Marauder' was written on most people's armor. A few had misspelled the word .They were stopped at the gate and Gyules opened the back stepping out.

"Hey! We are here to represent the nearby town. We need to talk about a few things."

"The boss was hoping you guys would show up. Get in here and ignore the mess. We were having a fun time with stalks until now." The large stone gates opened, showing the place had power either from the Marauders or from its own old generator. The back of the APC was closed and Gyules walked in to start driving.

"Dammit they got electricity, I wish we got that." Gyules muttered. Borusc would hit him in the end with his Markza and shushed him after a pause. Gyules glared back at him and then looked back to see them guide his vehicle to a little parking area to their left, right next to some other military vehicles, most of which seem to be broken. Gyules parked it and they would step out back to get their first real glimpse of the area.

The stone walls encompass what was once a training ground for COG recruits. Much of it was taken, but one could still see a shooting range set up where people were firing their guns at target boards, bottles, or a captured Locust. Quite a few men are wandering about or lounging on various chairs and items set up for such things. In random spots throughout the place, almost set up like cover, are boxes of supplies, either placed next to each other or tied together to make the boxes tall enough to conceal a man. Behind them in the parking lot area they can see there are mechanics repairing the vehicles,but those that cannot be repaired are placed around to act as more cover or scrapped.

Mora appears quite disturbed by the few women in the base. They scurry by whenever and are wearing frail amounts of clothing, though for some they are stuck covering themselves with their arms. Considering it was still snowing outside and cold, this was clearly quite bad. A girl would run in front of them, carrying a box of ammunition meant for the Onyx guard. She rushed it to a soldier who was cleaning his Lancer chainsaw.

"I-I brought you the ammo."

"Where was it five minutes ago!?" the guy shouted and stood up. He stepped forward quickly causing her to scream and crouch. Him and his friends laughed at how scared she got. The girl was about to get up, only to receive a swift kick to the head. Things seemed groggy for her and she was bleeding quite badly. The guy smiled and then picked her up while she was dazed.

"I am gonna go relieve some stress." he said and then walked off holding her. The girl did not struggle at all.

"This is why we should euthanize humanity!" Mora whispered to Gyules.

"It is those who perform those actions that should be taken down." Borusc commented. Their guide would slide down from the gate ladder and approached them, putting his hand out. Gyules took it, shaking it a little and then the guy pointed ahead to a large destroyed military base. It was mostly just a ceiling with a second floor and a few amount of walls on the outside.

"Don't worry, it looks much better on the inside, just not the basement." their guide stated."The basement is flooded by E-holes that were never closed."

"Why do you treat humans like that?" Mora asked before the guys tried to advertise her not to.

"They are people we rightfully enslaved, they are hours to fuck with. Various Stranded like to disobey us when we are in a territory, so we decide to punish them. With slavery or death. Its the only things people listen to anymore."

"Should give them death. This is no way for anyone to live, ever."

"Meh, it improves morale. If it makes you feel better we torture Locusts as well. Look what we got over there." he said and pointed over to some cages they could see on their way. He specifically pointed to two cages, both bearing starved Boomers. They keep muttering about food while a few guys watch.

"We got a bet, which one will starve first. We also got another bet on how long it takes to starve a Boomer to death." Mora seemed disturbed and would look away from there. Locusts were in various cages and guys were hurting them for their own fun. They were poking them, stabbing them, taunting the creatures. A few had malformed limbs, broken during abuse and not given proper treatment to have it heal. They mostly had drones though, but that quickly changed at this moment.

A man approached from the base with a cage containing a Kantus. The men would begin to cheer and one pulled some rope from atop a cage.

"I get to hang this one from the gate!"

"No I will!" shouted a guy next to him.

"Ladies, ladies, you can both hang him!" The two guys high-five and would begin moving the cage to the gate.

"We have to help them!" Mora whispered to Gyules.

"Help who!?" asked the guide, glaring at Mora.

"Well...umm...we must help-"

"Our neighbors, when we get home. They are hopeless idiots and I have no idea how they survived the Hammer strike." Gyules lied. The guide did not seem entirely convinced, but would continue to lead them the base. He remained quiet after that comment, merely leading them past the soldiers roofhousing and into the building. They would walk past a statue of a long forgotten Pendulum war hero the base was named after. The statue was made of copper and had turned green over time, but only had one leg left. The plaque could not be read so that it made out words, only a few letters remained legible.

Inside though they would find what was once a large lobby with doorways leading everywhere, except now most of those entrances were collapsed and it was torn apart. The desks in front were riddled with bullets. There was a statue of Alexiy Desipich in the center of the room. The statue has received a massive amount of graffiti, making his ace appear stupid and words against his views. Words such as "Fascist" or "Shithead!". Behind the desks a few computers and office supplies laid on the ground, thrown off of the desk. The desks had a few pieces of paper and whatnot, but most things were on the floor. The computers were usually shot and had their screen destroyed. Bullet casings littered the ground as well, most rusted over, but a pile of them was being made in the room by a few men, who were to clean them up and reuse the ones that can be.

Sitting on top of the desk, legs crossed, was a fairly tall man. He bore a light beard of a lighter shade of brown, his hair longer and a bit wavy. Went down to to his shoulders. He bore two piercing on his right eyebrow, two on his bottom lip to the left, a tongue piercing could be seen when he yawned, and mid sized gauges. One eye was brown, the other was a deep red. Bloodshot a little almost naturally. that was far more noticeable than the other eye. He was wearing a long black trench coat with armour painted black and trimmed red. underneath. His pants bore a vast amount of various chains and pockets, mostly black but the pockets were red. The man was certainly taller than Gyules and Borusc, but did not seem to bear as big of a build as the rest of the Marauders.

"I have been waiting here for you!" he said approaching, his voice bearing a Kashkur accent though the man was quite pale, not as pale as Mora, but pale. He spoke rather quickly, to a point of where one could not understand him at times.

"What took ya so long? I sent those things into town like a week or so!"

"So you do admit to releasing Locusts into town."

"I figured that whole war church would be happy. They fucking worship killing, I figured they would have the best goddamned time of their lives. War goddamn I mean when speaking about those zealous fuckheads."

"Wait, you just released and caused innocent Locusts to die, just to try and make good terms?" Mora asked.

"Since when is a fucking Locust innocent, about as innocent as a fucking UIR POW warden. Course their harshest treatment of prisoners, is my standard for drones we choose to capture. Really fucking makes people happy to torture a horrendous enemy. Course, you are Princess Moragna, so you dislike such things."

"Wait how do you...who told you?"

"Word of you has spread fast among Stranded and many I pick up tell tales of Gears who captured the daughter of Myrrah. Course there are older stories of you when you were first fighting, as people watched those camps and thought Locusts were indoctrinating humans or something. Now that they knew there was a Queen, they report it was you they saw on the Surface as well. I personally saw you as a child." Jacob stated, then smiled and patted her head.

"We are getting off topic, do you have an area where we can negotiate how to keep the peace and prevent such things from occurring." Borusc interrupted.

"Oh yes, we can do so right here. The floor is comfy enough and none of you should have reason that makes you above the floor." Jacob would jump and fell onto the ground on his ass, resting against the desk. The three gave each looks, showing confusion over his actions, but would sit down.

"So what must we do to prevent such encounters like releasing Locusts into our town?" Borusc asked.

"Well... hmm...what do I want...what do I want...how about her virgnity?"

"WHAT!?" Mora shouted, falling back.

"I am sure she still has it, does she?"

"Yes of course I got it, but I mean...I am not giving it to you! Hell no, fucking humans!"

"Damn, well...I will see about getting it someway or another. I would personally just shoot you all right now and take what I desire, but we are sort of full on resources, we got everything we could carry and have taken out what we can of this military base. So really... I just want to commandeer one of their buildings and let my men roam in to take in some of its luxuries. Such as the hot springs, the access of different food, etc. Besides, my men and the workers among us have their own sort of club we like to set up. I personally love the joint we are to commandeer must be quite big,. A mansion preferred."

"That can easily be arranged" said Gyules "What kind of club is this?"

"The kind that has women on leashes and people in attire most find strange fuck with fire around the room." Mora seemed a bit confused, woman on a leash? What is the point of that? Let alone she had never been to a night club or heard of one before.

"I do not believe anyone should have complaints other than those who want war. Please do not start a fire though."

"Certainly then. Note though, I will b e at your mercy if you bring me Momma Locust."

"What do you want with my mother?"

"Ar e you retarded or do they not educate Locusts in common sense. I want to rape and kill the bloody lizard milf! I did not want to kill you, you have done me no wrong, but that bitch has wiped out much of humanity."

"Technically it was the Lamb-"

"Glowies do not fucking matter, Locusts did the attack and should have stuck to their own war with those shitty bloats!" Gyules did not seem to appreciate the way he spoke to Mora so harshly, he really did not seem to like the man at all. Already thoughts were swirling through his mind of ways to kill him, but all involve ripping out the piercings first. He got up after that line and hoped to end this before it becomes an argument. He knows that Mora will argue this and defend the Locusts, always will defend her people.

"I will tell them of the deal and make them send someone else to affirm."

"I can just come along instead."

"I would prefer not-" Jacob stood up quickly and had a Boltok to Gyules' head.

"I am not giving you an option." Gyules did not appear afraid, moreso confused why he went to this so quickly. He shook his head and would push aside the pistol.

"Fine, come to the APC. I don't give a shit."

"Now don't be like that love!" Gyules remained silent as did Borusc. Mora merely remained silent because they did. The negotiation indeed went quicker than expected for Mora, but Gyules just caved easily. He knew they were in a weaker position though. Jacob would be examining Mora over and then lifted up her hair.

"What are you doing."

"Hold on..." Jacob reached into his pocket and dug a little bit. His tongue stuck out a little as he did so, he himself looking up. His hand would come out a bit bloody and he pulled out a pair of scissors that also had blood on it. He accidentally stabbed his hand a little, but it seemed the tall man hadn't even noticed. Mora swung her arm at the guy and would fall onto the ground, right on her right arm.

"Ow/.." she muttered as she got up.

"Come on, your hair is too fucking long! You have obviously not tended to it much."

"Its fine!" she said.

"...You have been needing a haircut for a while." Gyules reluctantly stated.

"I never wanted to say so." Borusc commented "I figured it was humanoid Locust way."

"I think it is fine."

"Its ridiculous! I am going to force this on you in the car ride!" Jacob explained as they approached the APC.

"How are you to do that exactly?" He pulled from a different pocket a cloth and a little vial of chloroform. He took a cork out of the vial, poured it into the cloth and approached her.

"What is that?" she said a bit confused. He forced it into her face. She breathed in to gather air and shout at him, but instead Mora hit the ground like a rock.

"You had no opposition to that?" Jacob stated looking at the two.

"You are offering her a free haircut, why should I care if she gets chloroformed beforehand." Gyules stated "Besides I am the one who is forced to care for her and pay for her." He climbed into the back of the APC, Borusc following, and then Jacob holding her.

"Will the road be bumpy at all? If I fuck up with the scissors she could lose an ear or something worse. It will also not be the first ear I have cut off whilst cutting hair."

"As long as Gyules takes the same route it should be fine." Borusc stated calmly and would take the seat beside him as they drove into town. Gyules backed the car out and then drove through the gate. The car ride was mostly in silence, Gyules and Borusc still feeling uneasy about Jacob. Borusc had a Gnasher in hand, ready to fire at him should he tr anything. He merely would hum the tune of some sort of foreign song, one neither could understand. It sounded too peaceful based on his rep.

The car ride was a little bit slower as Gyules was trying to be careful. They scarce encountered any Locusts or Lambent, usually just a few drones of either species passing by. Since they knew they could not take on the APC, neither would attack. The sounds of gunfire filled the woods as the usual skirmishes continued. None at the town though. They approached the gate and a man on the top opened it. They began to drive in and Jacob walked up to Gyules and Borusc.

"The haircut is done, but you! Caretaker person who was once a Gear, need to get her to a dentist. Her teeth are in poor condition and must be in great condition."

"Why must they be?"

"Because she has the teeth of a Locust and therefore must eat only meat. If one really looks she has multiple characteristics of a Locust."

"I have observed them, the sprinkle of gold in her eye, the teeth, her fingernails are a bit different, slightly more like claws, etc."

"Ah you took the list from my mouth, now just drop me off at the church. I think that will work well." Gyules drove him to the church and then let him get out. He waved to them as they drove off to the house. Once at their house Mora would wake up.

"My head feels different, what did he do?" she asked. Gyules pointed to the mirror on the side of the APC. She walked over and would look at herself in it, her hair was now cut a bit short, not to the point of where its near shaved or similar to a man's hair, but merely a bit short. It went down to the bottom of her head and her bangs were out of her face.

"This is...I like it a little."

"It will grow back long anyways."

Meanwhile at the church, Jacob would be lead to the Prophet's office.

"Jacob, you have been expected."

"I have been waiting for this chance. How long do you think we should wait before my men get to 'please your gods' or some fucking bullshit."

"There is work before we please the gods. First we need to deal with Omega, get them assassinated."

"Awe, must it be done instantly? I wanna enjoy our club being in a stable area for once!"

"Dispose of them whenever you want and get us the girl."

The End


	20. Chapter 20 Showtime

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 20: Showtime

(I apologize for the delay, I have been very busy lately and have not had much chance to write lately.)

The caravan had left once Jacob came into town, fearing the Marauders and that they would ravage their resources. The caravan underwent a few troubles as the road ahead was backed up by a landslide, but Omega and several other armed members of town were sent to help and successfully defended them from oncoming Locusts and Lambent. The Caravan still suffered a fair amount of casualties and the help from the town was slaughtered save for Omega. All in all, they still dubbed it successful as Locust and Lambent casualties were still higher than human. That was three days ago, today Gyules is bringing Mora back from the local dentist.

She is rubbing her cheek and moving her jaw a bit, her teeth in quite a bit of pain. There are signs that tears ran down her face. She is still sniffling a bit so Gyules has his arm around her and is rubbing her shoulder a bit. He is trying to comfort her and telling her that they will get her treatment home.

"It hurts! I thought you said they would use anesthetic!"

"They were supposed to! That dumbass dentist just got excited." In truth the town didn't have anesthetic. Their dentist was hardly even a real dentist, he did good work on Mora's teeth, but he still was hardly capable of anything worse. Limited dental supplies as well.

"We will get you something cold, I believe we have."

"We have nothing cold that is edible. Or really anything cold we can apply except snow." Osman stated walking up to the two as they neared the house "Did it without anesthetic?"

"How do you-" Osman pulled off his helmet and smiled for them. His teeth were white and clearly had some work done. He closed his mouth and put his helmet back on.

"I got work done, it hurts but it will end in a little while of time. Right now Aiden and Tanner decided to investigate the church a little. They found something odd going on. Marauders are occupying the place and walking around there more, Jacob is even staying there and talking with the prophet like they are long time friends. He keeps spinning on that vine int eh place they also find sacred."

"Keep a watch on them, we can never trust what cults will do. I am pretty sure Jacob has something planned, something that might give him our valued prisoner."

"I am here because my mother managed to get control even over feeble humans like yourself and you are to protect me." she said "Like from this dreaded tooth pain!"

"At least we are exiting Thaw with no real snowfall and heading to Brume." Tanner would jump down from the rooftop and seemed quite pleased with himself.

"I finally got rid of Ilian for the day!"

"Get that cardboard cutout of yourself you always wanted to make out with."

'Not make out with, I have wanted that for a long time, but no. I finally put my foot down."

"You did that before and she just used guilt or tazed you."

"I wrapped her in my favourite item and forced her in the basement of that old building on the other side of the church. Elsewhere for Ilian, she would be sitting in the dark, mouth taped over, wrists taped behind her back and ankles together. She was merely sitting there, not struggling and thinking to herself.

"So this is what Tanner is into...I must figure out how to get him out of this, or use it to my advantage." she thought to herself. A light would then shine as a door opened. A Marauder was standing in the light, but shadowed by it so only his figure was visible.

"HEY GUYS! I FOUND A NEW SLAVE!" Back to Omega.  
>"You mean that one?" Gyules asked pointing to it "The Marauders got right to it. They will enslave Ilian."<p>

"Wait...enslave? SHIT!" Tanner would take off running.

"I will go help him." Osman said and ran after him. Mora turned to Gyules, but he knew what she would say. He put his hand up to deny her and would pick her up, holding her bridal style.

"You need to rest. I do not like to see you in such pain." he said and walked over to the door. She grabbed it for him and opened it.

"What happened to 'I am gonna kill you now for annoying me'?"

"You know I won't and we never exactly hurt you. Just sort of an output to my anger."

"Well, you have at least been nicer, but I still dunno why you kept me alive in the first place. Most gears would shoot. You have said many reasons, but whats the real reason."

"Curiosity, what fucking else? We only found out a few years ago the Locusts had a queen, then find the daughter? Besides I would feel guilty. You are harmless, the only real civilian of the Locusts."

"But you are a gear, shouldn't you hate the Locusts, kill ever one of them?"

"I hate Myrrah for commanding them to attack us, but I know the Locusts only bear hatred because of she commanded them. Otherwise I doubt they would have ever attacked us or tried to kill us. Hence I cannot hate them even when they killed my family." he said "But if I really wanted to kill them all, would that make me any better than them? Rather I will keep killing Locusts as long as they wanna kill me, you didn't wanna kill me."

"I had a gun pointed at you!"

"An empty gun, you wouldn't of fired anyways."

"You don't now that!" she shouted as he got her into her bed.

"You looked damned ready to cry."

"So! I thought you were gonna kill me. I don't wanna die!"

"You were too scared to pull it and I do not blame you for being afraid. You tried to act tough though, at least you tried. Well, I recommend you relax, you have had a long day for a princess." Gyules starts to walk out of the room when she calls back to him.

"Can you possibly...keep me company?" she asked, blushing a little.

"Cannot do, I got to protect the guys as we watch Jacob. His club is holding something big and even sent a personal invitation." said Gyules. He takes a piece of paper from his pocket depicting a fancy ticket to a party.

"Everyone got one besides you, so we are going to show, but I got security here, so please do not leave your room." he said.

"Hey. Wait!" she said and ran after him, opening the door and seeing a large sentry at the end of the hallway. It points it's barrel at her and she grows quite frightened. She then scurries back into her room. Gyules whistles as he walks out, two large sentries in their living room activating. He carried Mora specifically to try and make her not notice these. He had built in the door, in front of the staircase, top of the staircase, entrance to the hallway, and before Mora's door, red laser barriers, too tall to jump over. All of these were ripped from a mansion's garden they scavenged one day. It was a bitch to get out, but they commandeered a Packhorse for such a need. The Packhorse later exploded for reasons unknown.

Mora sighed and looked over to her window. She reached for it and then realized she could predict how overly safe Gyules is. She opened the curtains and saw the red lasers blocking it.

"Great...I am being held hostage in my room...for my own safety!" she thought. She went over to her bed and sighed wondering what she can do in this time.

Gyules meanwhile made his way over to the club Jacob had taken. He went over to it to meet with Aiden, Osman, and Tanner waiting outside, the guys examining a bottle of liquor purchased there.

"Yo man!" said Tanner "Look what we got!" He held up the bottle only for Gyules to grab it and break it over Osman's helmet.

"What was that for?! If I didn't-"

"Toss the helmet for now and do not get drunk. We do not know what he is planning, this man is insane, but I am fairly certain he is up to something against us with the way he talked to Mora."  
>"Do not forget the frequency of our 'accidents'" Tanner said "Such as the pile of metal that nearly crushed me, or Osman nearly getting his head blown off by a sneezing sniper."<p>

"I also almost got killed by a vehicle without breaks."

"And I had the dentist almost stab my eye today, who seemed really jumpy also." Gyule said as he walked in. Inside they could see the few light came fire about the place, torches were on the wall. The floor had many runways planted with poles where girls danced, usually in leather or latex clothing. Some wore nothing, some only had Xs over their private area. Men gathered about these girls while behind their area was a bar built around a wall they had collapsed. Many shelves of alcohol they seem to have made sat there, with a professional bar tender handling drinks. One could walk past the bar where a stage was set up, meant for a band to perform. Instead of a band was a girl in odd make up and latex breathing fire (not actually doing so, but the carnival act of doing so). Other people toyed with fire and danced with it on smaller stages set up around the place. Along the right side of the room, people were doing drugs various drugs while a man was selling them to whomever want to.

Along the ceiling were various cages were girls were dancing and a balcony, mostly where people were relaxing and talking with each other. Some dancing up there, others inviting women to a back room, though most of the time if a women were to go with a man they forced them there, screams drowned down by the heavy metal music. Few of the men cared anyways to help.

"This place breeds sin, I am going to go snort something!" Tanner said.

"See if you can find Jacob, do whatever you can to stay in public, do not get dragged away to any other place, that way its less likely something is to occur." Gyules commanded and began to walk off.

"We really stick out in armour though, should we dress in something else?"

"Cannot go back now, security is up."

"We can undo security."

"Meh I do not wanna make the trip." Gyules looks back and sees the guys have left to do so and sighs, going with them. The group comes back within normal clothing, having ignored Mora as she wanted out and shouted at them. Gyules merely tells her to be quiet and to be safe.

"That is better." said Osman wearing a T-shirt and his combat pants. Gyules walks in wearing a loose jacket, combat pants, and a old dark gray shirt. He begins to walk over to the bar. Tanner rushes his way through the bar and to the top story, feeling far more comfortable higher up. Osman followed him.

"I haven't seen Ilian all day, usually she stalks you once or twice." said Osman as he leaned back against the railing and looked about. He winked at a guy and he seemed disgusted. He then sighs and mutters about difficulties of being a homosexual.

"I haven't either, I am worried. I may not want to be with her, but the gal is a pretty bitch to see, plus was still my best friend forever."

"Then how did she get all..."

"Tazy? Meh, its a long childhood story I might share one day. Gist of it is, I got her through some bad emotional time and saved her life." he said "Gotta say though, the girls here are well fed and do not go for the Stranded shaved head look. I like girls with a fair amount of hair on their head. Not anywhere else, body hair is your thing."

"No I like my guys hairless or the kind of hairy that makes them seem more...masculine...like...well..."

"I don't wanna hear about that shit. I do not need an attractive male chest described to me." A guy from below them shouts loudly: "FUCK THE COG! THIS IS THE LIFE!" He is obviously high right now. Tanner turns around to someone and grabs their beer bottle, he then hold it over the edge and drops it on the individual who shouted. It shatters on his head and he looks around confused, while the guy up top looks angry.

"Fuck you man, I was drinking that!"

"I used that for humour, I think that is of greater importance. Wanna fight about it?" The man pushes Tanner and he flips over the bar, barely holding on. He then walks off to get a new one.

"I dunno who just pushes and runs away, but GET ME UP!" Osman grabs Tanner by his wrist he is not using, then pulls him up onto the balcony.

"Don't start fights man, we just gotta observe!"

"I am just having a good time."

"Well don't, our lives could be at stake here!"

"I dunno why we are even doing this, sure I care for Mora, but I dunno why we need her. We could let her go her own way."

"We are doing this because we care for Gyules and now we just don't feel complete without her. Really, our squad is a family, we would feel a lot more empty without her little smiling face." Osman said.

"She is kind of nice to have around, plus an awesome chest. Not too large like a D-cup, but not a small cup. I like Mora, but I am not a huge fan of being a bodyguard for her."

"What else would we do also, saves us time."

"We could go fight and slaughter Locusts?'

"What will that do us? We cannot defeat them, we need the Lambent dead and lord knows we cannot stop that."

"Touche...but still, I dunno. All feels a bit pointless, but whatever. We got to meet Myrrah before she gets killed. My bet is Marcus Fenix will kill him."

"Probably." Meanwhile, downstairs Aiden is drinking a beer at the bar and listening to conversations. He is listening to people at the bar talk. Most seem to talk of how great the booze is or of the girls. Though Aiden listens in particular to a man, probably new to the group, being told about Jacob.

"I remember hearing about Jacob, but I never knew exactly who he was."

"Jacob is the king of badass and hates the COG more than anything out there. He is a legend, was not born to mortals."

"What, but I mean...he is not..."

"We believe something is up with him. He claims to have some sort of spiritual state which makes him immune to pain and damage. Says spirits guide him through this state and protect him, as he is favoured or some shit."

"That is a load of shit!"

"I have seen him fight, I have seen the damned guy burst through a mob of bullets and rush to a group of Locusts, blowing them apart with a Gnasher. Same with COG soldiers, the damned man fights on the front lines, but do you see a single nick on him? Single bit of harm or a bullet wound? He lounges in his damned underwear sometimes, one must notice such things!"

"I am glad I have not noticed...but how often does he fight?"

"Often, whenever he is not busy developing plans, paths, or places to murder and pillage."

"Damn." Aiden smirked, but wondered if that meant something. It at least must mean he is skilled in combat as they watch him, but who knows if he actually doing fighting or does not. He knows he must at least not be protected, as no god would protect a man as vile as him. Gyules meanwhile was on the dance floor listening as well, searching for a way though to go find Jacob. Maybe assassinate him.

He saw what appeared to be a back door and checked if anyone was looking. When he knew none were he walked to the door and opened it, sneaking his way into the room and finding it a hallway. Gyules began to walk forward down the hallway and wandering to where it went. As he went down he heard a loud commotion going on in the other room, but it was cheering. He knew it could be something and then ran back to the door that closed behind him. He pulled on it and then realized ti was locked. Gyules cursed and then began to walk forward, to see where this went to and if he could get out.

Meanwhile in the room, people were cheering and gathering on the dance floor as the stage curtains began to open. An announcer's voice was talking and standing on stage. Gyules began navigating his way through the hallway to try and get out.

The guys meanwhile were all watching as a man was announcing about Jacob's arrival.

"Are you all ready for the arrival of the craziest son of a bitch!" Everybody in the audien cheered loudly.

"ARE YOU FUCKING READY YOU FUCKERS!?" A few men on stage begin to say a bit more to introduce people to Jacob.

"We now present our glorious leader! He is a son of a bitch and a gun. He is the Prophet of Hallucinations, Lord of Rebellion, Original COG-Hater, and King of the Proletarian! HE IS BARON VON FUCKING ILIAMA! ITS JACOB!" The people cheer as the man presents him, shouting about how they love him and growing wild. They begin to form a mosh pit and people begin hurting each other and doing as they please. One man goes as far as to jump off the balcony and onto a cage a girl was in, pulling it down and the people begin to beat and rape the girl. Fireworks explode from stage as the curtain is lit on fire. It burns away quickly as Jacob is walking out, arms spread, but at a slight angle to represent a crooked cross. He begin calling in for more people to cheer, then puts his hand to his ear as he walks to the edge of the stage. Two girls having followed him, bear nude except for black, leather hoods over their heads. The ones where one can close the eyes and mouth with a zipper. Specifically the eye facing towards the wall of each girl was closed and the mouth was as well. Though on the back was an opening where a large black ponytail stuck out. To cover themselves they wore small latex bottoms and black Xs over their nipples.

"Okay guys, calm down." Jacob stated, wanting the crowd to stop cheering, to actually go down to business. Most comply but a few people still cheered and then Jacob pulled out a boltok and shot a man in front of him.

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He looks around, checks if everyone is calmed down, in which they appear to be.

"Alright, now let me tell you, my fucks, how it is. I-"

"I LOVE YOU JACOB!"

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" he said quickly and fired his gun at the guy, killing him instantly. He puts it away and then looks over to them all, face scowling. It quickly turns back to his joyful expression and he starts to talk.

"Anyways, Marauders, we got ourselves a fuckin mission and then we can salvage this fuckspot for all of its shit and shitty people!" he said "That crazy church made me an offer. They want that whore of a Locust, Moragna. All we gotta do to get to her, kill those four Gears guarding her! See how easy this is going to be! That religion claims there are too many non believers in town and that we can do as we please with those fucks once we get that girl!" he shouted. People began to boo and seemed disappointed.

"I know, I know, its no fun. Not fun at all, since I want the girl, I got a plan! We are going to kill those fucks, I got a plan even right now! So everyone hush down and listen to my words, we will kill the non Marauders at the door. Only one fucking way out of here after all!" He looked over and leans down to them, talking much quieter like he is telling a secret.

"When we get the girl in, we fucking shoot that old guy in the face and start an alarm. We are going to open the gates wide and undo parts of the ground, fucking let the Lambent and Locust into this shithole and kill them all! Anyone who survives is in, and we have fun as hell! In fact, we get to start much sooner! Dissipate from the floor!" He stands and points to the stage with a hand and all fingers outward. Omega is pushed down and Aiden is left there.

"Only one, but there is more here. Such as... the Faggot!" he said and a spotlight shined on Osman on the balcony.

"The Jackass." A light shines on Tanner and he tries to block it with his arm.

"The Tribal is down there.

"Then we got the Leader!" Gyules is wandering to the stage and ends up getting pushed by a girl until he falls before Jacob. Jacob points his pistol at him.

"I could kill you now love!" he said pointing his boltok at him.

"But I-" Jacob is cut off by Gyules who pulls out a snub pistol. Jacob smiles as everyone aims their guns at Gyules.

"Gyules, you think having a pistol is going to save the ass of you and your team! Do you realize who you are fuckin deal with? YOU DON'T EVEN REALIZE WHO THE FUCK I AM! I am fuckin St. Jacob and I am immortal!" Gyules began to get a bit of a closer look at him, examining him over as he was getting comfortable and ignoring him. Jacob has been doing some sort of drugs, his eyes were bloodshot and wide. His face twitched a bit every once in a while.

"I remember you." Aiden said walking up. Jacob looks over to him as Aiden forces his way through the crowd and onto the dance floor.

"You attacked my people, you obtained control over your drug cartel when your father was killed trying to attack them. So you took over and started a ruthless career. You manipulated several UIR leaders who relied on your supply and caused them to pointlessly take out Irohma island and many of the other Southern Islands. You then went on to attack the COG whenever possible and sent videos. You kept trying to get the COG to go back to war and undermine the COG from within."

"Thank you my mate, for stating what we all know already!" said Jacob.

"I wish I know why, if you care to explain before you attempt to kill us."

"I guess I shall do so. Since you already heard my plan, this will feel like when a hero confesses his plan to kill a villain just before he thinks he will kill the villain but the villain gets away and performs a reversal. Though it is not, it feels like it, so yeah, I have always wanted that feeling." Jacob said, putting his hands together and two index fingers up near his mouth. He then points them over at Aiden.

"You, well, former COG, are a bunch of cocksuckers. No I should say freedom fucks, or freedom and cock suckers Maybe sucking freedom through a cock? I don't care, either way. Your fucking government restricts fun, it restricts how we fucking should be, COG the most, but as I was glad to occur, the others fell as well. The damned problem with it is life makes you fucking conform to their desire. No matter how hard one tries to resist, you fucking lose and conform. Because if you do not, you become apart of the useless population without the required resources to survive happily. Its damned awful, is it not?

"So here is what we need, we need to fuck the government, fuck the schools and the conformation process. We gotta fucking live like now, were we have people who have learned how to manage this shit and have created the shit we need. Also are still creating it because they want to, yet we are free and happy to do as we please. So right now, I am in damned heaven, but I also love to have goals, ya know? Work towards some sort of shit, so I am working towards catching Mora and raping her into my submissive servant. Fucking her until her brains are non existent! To do that, I need you dead." he said. From the balcony, Tanner and Osman are picked up by men and tossed onto the dance floor. Gyules is kicked over to the floor and then the girl on his right grabs a lever. She pulls down on it and then the floor opened up, exposing a large dug out cave. Then the girl on the left grabs a lever and pulls down on it. The ceiling opens and a large supermagnet is powered. Their weapons are all forcibly pulled out of them, lifting Tanner up a bit, but ended up forcing them out. The guys got out and then Jacob walks backstage and pulls a third lever. The guys hear a large creaking sound as metal rises against metal roughly.

"This is going to be fun." Walking into the light is a Berserker they captured. The guys all go dead quiet and then Jacob tosses a beer can down. It hits Tanner right on his bald head and the sound is enough to alert the Berserker. She smells the air and then turned to the group.

"SHIT RUN!" shouted Gyules as the Berserker charged right at their direction.

The End


	21. Chapter 21 Rescue

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 21: Rescue

Mora, during this whole crazy time at the bar, is reading a book in her room. Specifically a book about a human who traveled through hell, purgatory, and heaven. All taking form in a very long poem. She is thinking to herself though about religion. The Locust religion follows a trinity of worms that had created their homes and the very habitat they lived in. Also talked of her mother as an important figure as she bred the Locusts into what they are She knew the great worms had done so and many words could appeal to various small worms beneath that nourished them..but...

Their religion did not talk much of an afterlife. It mentions how their body goes to dirt and decomposes, aids the ecosystem, and more life. Yet it does not talk of much more than that afterwords. She sighed and looked down a bit. What happened to the Locusts who died? What about the humans dead as well, where did they go? There had to be something, SOMETHING! She knew it, otherwise. All that sacrifice and those lives...it would just be wasted. This entire war was pointless, if the humans and Locusts just learned to work together, if Mother hadn't instantly assumed they would be hostile in the future...all just what ifs. No point thinking in the past, but she cannot help about it. It goes against much of her beliefs to think about the past, to not focus on what was going on, hell went against the Locust belief.

Being exposed to humans, she has had too much time to think. Too much time to learn and think about life. Figure out things with her own mental capacity, mental and social things. Not physical problems and ways to order troops. Instead she was thinking of how to improve her own happiness and the happiness of others, but for their own sake. Not for their efficiency. So to try and help with this, she has been reading books, either over the human mind, or over human psychology. It was all very confusing though, as many times these books of psychology conflicted with each other. So she merely attempted to apply the ideas to situations she knew of in the past or tried to see if she could get some people in these situations and if they did as the book said they would. Course now she was wondering about religion and as she read she wondered.

She cursed and fell back on her bed after reading a bit more. She could not agree with this human religion. It punished homosexuality, those with alternate beliefs, the ones who performed too much violence, and those who betrayed others. It punished so many people who did not seem to deserve a punishment. She figured there had to be something after life, but...who knows. Hell she still wondered who created the universe, she only knew who made the hollow.

"DAMMIT THEY GOT SENTRIES!" shouted a man, from outside. She stopped thinking and then looked out her window. Marauders were all about the house and trying to enter. She heard the sound of a sentry activating and then opening fire at a man. He had tried to rush in. Mora walked back and over to her bed. She pulled a Hammerburst out and then did her best to get the window up. She slowly slid her hand past the bar and pulled it up. The lasers were on the outside, but she still was careful around suck thing. She got her hammerburst past the bars and then aimed down at a guy not noticing and running to the ground. She fired a few times and the guy shouted, falling over having been shot. She fired a few more times, three more bursts. Then the men is dead midway through the third burst.

"Shit she killed Charlie!" shouted a guy and everyone ran to cover. A man then got beneath her window and tossed a grenade up. It landed on the edge of the window.

"SHTI MAN! DON'T KILL HER!" one scolded to the one who threw it. Mora just pushed it with one finger and it fell down beneath them, exploding. The wall was shine as it was built strong, just now a bloodstain from the multiple men it killed.

"I wish there were less defenses so I could kill them more." she muttered to herself, a bit sad about that. Along the front of the house, three Marauders, were discussing what to do though. Not a large squad was sent to inspect defenses, the grenade taking out a few and the sentries shot right through one Marauders and into the man behind him.

"Alright boys, we gotta think." sad the one in the center "She is up there, we are down here. In between us are sentries and lasers."

"What if we just shoot at the sentries?" asked the one to right. The center man slaps him.

"Because, you idiot, what the fuck is a bullet going to do against a sentry when we are shot! What possibly makes you think if we shoot at technology it will stop working."

"Video games." His other cheek is slapped.

"That doesn't work man." The other guy then was blindfiring into the house and shot at the turret. He poked his head forward a bit.

"Its broken."

"What do you mean its broken!" shouted the center man running up."

"Its no longer firing." he said and stepped into the house. He had shot up the furniture a bit also, but other than that, he was fine. The one up the stairs though began to fire and killed the man who stepped in at first.

"SHIT!" said the guy who was not leading. They then got into cover and were about to react more when Mora opened her door. She tosses a grenade she keeps down and it lands before them.

"SHIT!" shouted the leading Marauders and it exploded, wrecking more furniture and killing him. Mora then hears that and looked over the lasers. She wanted out, to check what is going on, are Gyules and Omega okay? Oh shit...they could be dead. Dead and n hell according to that religion! She looked over the lasers and tried something. Mora took her hammerburst and all the ammo she kept, firing at the device until it breaks, taking the last of her current clips and reloading. The laser device was wreaked, she knew Gyules would be pissed over that, life saved or not. She merely turned off the sentry once she got over to it, since it had an obvious off switch no one ever bothered with it seemed.

She ran downstairs and began to run towards that mansion Jacob commandeered. Mora was running to it and ran to it to find the doors opened, but no one in the area she could see. She looked about and then noticed a very large crowd of people. Mora ran over and began to dig through the crowd, directly disobeying Gyules, but caring for their own safety, something she never expected to do when they had bound her with duct tape and Tanner put it over her mouth for being too talkative.

Course she preferred tape rather than what was Gyules' usual style of shutting up Tanner. Not a fan of pain. Mora snapped out of thought, getting far too deep into thinking today. She began to force her way through the crowd, but her frail figure proved to be a hindrance and a benefit here. She was slipping through what she could, but was not strong enough to push men aside far. She made her way through as she heard Jacob babbling. Everyone began to move back then and she was forced with the crowd as she fought it.

"I hate being this close to anyone!" she thought, completely squished by the massive amount of people. She did her best to keep fighting, people complaining to her, but got to the front of the crowd, a few minutes after the crowd bunched away. She got in front of everyone and then was by the edge. Mora nearly rushed off the edge and ended standing on her toes, leaning over. She flailed her arms about, cursing as her top half leaned back in an attempt to fall backwards. She was holding her hammerburst with one hand and barely gripping it. A human grabbed her hair and pulled her down.

"I got you." said the human and then looked over her, Mora clutching her rifle to her body, face reddened. She had been so scared, didn't even see what was down there at the moment.

"Its-" The man is interrupted by Jacob laughing.

"ITS THE BITCH!" he shouted through his laughter, now leaning over and hands on his knees. He began to slam his fist into his knee and fell down upon the ground gripping his gut. He keeps laughing for a while, until the point of where it is awkward. People are looking at each other and have never seen him laugh this much without someone in pain. He then calms down with a few more laughs and gets up.

"This is so fucking easy!" he said "I have the squad now dead, the bitch comes rushing into my arms, holding a damned rifle and looking cute as fuck. I have enough damned troops in town and in position to overtake the town with almost no casualties, so I can accomplish all of my tasks by morning!" shouted Jacob "This is so fucking great, so fucking great! I have never had it this easy. Ah...go back to watching the Berserker kill them, bring the girl to my office." said Jacob. He walks off stage and now Mora is being forced off, soldiers holding her down tightly. She is yelling at them to let go of her. Mora is weak, but she is fighting. One of them pulls her rifle from her and puts it on his back.

"That is my gun!" shouted Mora "Do you realize how long it took me to get that thing working well! Not even just working, but well!" she shouted "Nor do you realize how awful it is that you are forcing me into a room with Jacob! He will rape me!"

"Dammt someone shut this bitch up!" shouted the man who took her rifle as he began to escort her out. She was being escorted to a door on the opposite side of the one Gyules entered from. The guy to her left kicks the door as he escorts her.

"I said, LET GO OF ME!" she shouted and shook the man off from her leg. She pulls out from her belt a large knife and slams it into the stomach of the man next to her. He shouts and she slams it in a few times, his other friend watching and seeming horrified. Blood splurts from the wound and onto Mora's hand. She twists the knife a little, starting to enjoy this, then moves to the next man. She begins to grin and the man starts to run. She grabs the back of his shirt and with newfound strength, forces him onto his back. She drops to her knees and holds the knife with both hands, slamming it into his chest, between the ribs and into a lung. She does so a few more times, usually scrapping a rip or two, but never able to pierce into it. When its done, the man is dead, blood had sprayed onto her. She walks over to the other guy and grabs her gun back. Mora sighs and calms down.

"What the fuck do I do...was...is Omega dead. Or are they in that pit. I cannot go out there! They will notice me and kill me, or take me away and who knows what will happen. I just...must..." She looks over to the dead soldiers and then looks through the hallway. She takes the helmet off of one and puts it on, then unbuckles his armour. She puts that over her and then tries to buckle it. The armour being a bit big on her, but once buckled it begins to crush her chest. She loosens it and then just leaves it dangling.

Mora opened the door slowly and then shuts it slowly, leaving the bodies there as she did not know where to hide them, nor is strong enough to pick up dead weight. She walked over to the area people are crowd about, slowly fighting her way to the front again. The room was fairly dark and everyone was focusing on whats going on down there, so she had the advantage. Mora lingered over to the ledge and looked down casually. Down there, Omega was hiding beneath some rocks in this large tunnel, the Berserker looking confused. She had no idea what to do, humans could be smelled all around, in front of her and a ton above her.

She could hear the chanting of those above her, but not the ones in front of her. Mora could tell this by just her actions, pitying the poor girl. She could tell, whereas others could not, she had been locked away. She was troubled, starved a little, burned a lot. The thick skin plating and her stance showed these things. Plus upon her back it appeared someone tried to pry off a piece that was sticking out a little, while below ti was a square cut that they could not manage to cut through the whole way, so a lot of little slash marks were at the end. Thank goodness the helmet hid how sad she looked. She did move over a bit and saw down there Aidan. It had to be Omega squad there. Omega was alive and fighting for their life! Hopefully the crowd was to confuse them, Mora was going to find a way out.

She slowly and casually walked out, then got into that room and threw the helmet aside. A soldier was walking down at the time and turned over to see the scene. She aimed her rifle and fired at him twice, killing him before he can shout to his friends. Mora begins rushing forward and focusing on saving Omega, she would use her training RAAM gave her to save human lives. She kept rushing forward and then shot at another soldiers walking down the hallway, shooting him in the leg. She runs over and then slams the rifle into his back. Mora flips him over and holds him up by his shirt.

"I will force hooks into the back of your flesh and tear it apart, then pierce rings into the wounds to pull on them at any time. All of that, if you do not tell me exactly how to get Omega squad out of that cave alive!"

"Ow...shit! Gotta get them into the Berserker cage and raise it! Then they will need to shoot their way out the back!" said the guy.

"Thanks" said Mora smiling a bit "Where is that room."

"Jacob's office!"

"Shit..." she mutters and stands up. When the soldier is to say anything else she takes out a boltok and blows out his brains. Similar to how RAAM executed the Gear for his radio. She then takes off running downt he hallway and looks back to him. "Fuck...I dunno where that is." She begins to look around and then hears the sound of a crowd chanting through the wall.

"ALMOST!" shouted one man.

"Shit!" she muttered and ran through the hallway until she saw a door on the wall to her right. Mora ran through the door and found a few more guys, but ran past them, the guys not noticing and many of them intoxicated or high. She ran past them to a room with a staircase and a sign by the staircase. It now listed what the Marauders had up there. Mentioned a few pointless rooms, but at the end of the list s Jacob's Office. It even states its at the end of the hallway up there. Mora then rushes up the stairs and towards a hallway.

"This place is really oddly designed." she thought to herself and noticed a man walking down. Mora fired upon him once and killed him, then took off running forward again. She kept running until she got to Jacob's office and he opened the door, grabbing her neck.

"I sort of tried to lighten security and wanted you to fight your way here." said Jacob "Figured it would be more entertaining if you thought you had hope, considering my troops didn't even search you for weapons or bind you, should have been obvious. Course tonight has been showing I really need to think out things more, got a little cocky this time." he said. Mora is struggling to breath as he holds her throat tightly.

"Oh sorry Anastasia." he said and threw her aside.

"What!?'

"That feels like a good name for you." he said "But nonetheless, you are Princess Moragna, not Princess Anastasia." he said and walked over to a large control panel. What was thought to be a wall, was somehow a window that he was peering into and looking over the crowd. Mora got up and was about to shoot at him, then he pulled out a Boltok and shot her in the knee with perfect precision. She falls over clutching it and cursing, then struggles to grab her fallen gun.

"I am doing this way too quick!" he said "I just meet them a few days ago, and no build up am I killing them already! With a berserker, only have one of those and it doesn't work well. Can't use a berserker for show, I have no idea why I thought one would work! They can smell everyone around them and will be confused as hell."

"Why are you telling me this?" she said as she tried to get up. Mora cursed again and looked at her leg. He had shot right below her kneecap, the bullet stuck right in the bone.

"Because I find whores are really nice people to talk to. They always understand, but I usualy gather them by the boatload and host orgies. Orgies so great girls freakin clip my nails and take bits of my beard when they leave, as souvenirs! All apart of my religion, but I am bored of them and everyone else. I am really bored of most things, so fucking you I expect to be now. Tell me, is your pussy scaly."

"What!? No, you are disgusting. Just let my friends go, I will find you something entertaining if you let them go."

"NOW THAT IS WHAT I ALSO LOVE ABOUT YOU!" he said and slammed his fist onto the wall.

"You fucking care about humans, you should never care about them! You are meant to be enemies to the end. Like a snake and mongoose, dreadlocks and waterfalls, Femininsts and Malenists, BUT NO! You want them to fucking live, you broke out of your house to rescue them and fought your way to my office! They damned captured you first, probably still a hostage, so why, WHY!? Tell me!" he said walking closer to her with each sentence, but at the end of it, gripping her, shaking her a bit.

"Because they are fucking good people!" she said and slammed her head into him. Jacob falls over with a bloody nose. Mora takes his pistol and slams it into his head. She pulls out her knife also and stabs it into his leg where he shot her.

"NOW WE ARE EVEN! Go operate that control panel and call it all off." she said holding the gun at him, stuck sitting on the floor. Jacob is cursing and gripping his leg, letting his nose bleed all over him.

"FUCK THAT HURTS!"

"No shit sherlock!" she said and shot at him again, missing on purpose but to encourage. She pulled off of her belt her own Boltok and also aimed that at him.

"Now get fucking to it!" she said and then used one to get herself up. Jacob stands up just fine and then walks over to the mirror. He lifts up the wall beneath it and exposes some buttons and various controls.

"I apologize for the odd design, this place was designed by an amateur architect trying to be mysterious, pus we also altered it a fair amount." He presses a few buttons and pulls out a microphone on a wire. Jacob activates the wire and begins talking into it.

"Kill the Berserker, the remaining members of Omega are free to leave! This is too easy, we need to savour it." he said "The girl from my office is to be escorted out also, specifically carried like the demanding brat she is." Two soldiers from each side walk away and come back with scorchers. They begin burning the Berserker and killing it. Some guys open the cage in back and tell them to go. Omega squad is reluctant, but then Jacob hands her the mic.

"You can trust them for now, I got a gun to Jacob's head." said Mora into it, tempted to make a speech as her mother used to. Just for the feeling of so. Down there, the guys walk to the pit and Tanner is already bothering everyone.

"So we just had a damned Locust girl save our asses."

"Weren't for her we wouldn't be in danger in the first place, so I cannot say save."

"Bullshit, that girl ran into here and saved us from that Berserker, which is dead now."

"We do certainly owe her one." said Aiden "Some sort of favour." Gyules sighs as they walk into cage and are lifted up. It exposes a little room beneath the office and they are escorted to Jacob's office to get Mora, the guys figuring they can just carry her instead. Once there, they find Mora sitting on the bed, looking at her leg wound, Jacob has been shot in the head and is laying there, dead.

"Sure he is dead." said Gyules as Aiden killed their escort.

"Lets be safe." she said and shot at him with both boltoks several times.

"He is dead, now get me fucking home and fix my leg. He shot it and it really really hurts!" It was obvious she had cried a little over this, Mora was not hardened enough to just ignore a gunshot like so. Gyules walked over and picked up Mora, carrying her bridal style as he had done so earlier today. He was careful not to touch he picked her up.

"Lets get you patched up." he stated and began to carry her down and out of the place. The soldiers were all angrily retiring to bed, many of them wanting to kill Omega. Before they left, they made sure they got their guns back, specifically by forcing the operator of the supermagnet to force it down. They also learned it was ripped from a junkyard and a lot of their items were ripped from various places. Omega rushed to get out of there and to arrive at their house.

"Home sweet home!" said Osman as they approached the door. Osman ran ahead to it, but just as he did he heard a loud beeping sound. The house's walls burst forth in a fiery explosion, debris raining all about and throwing Osman aside, the door on top of him. He threw the door off of him and got up.

"...WELL FUCK!" shouted Tanner. The entire squad appeared shocked, horrified, as their home had been destroyed. Laughter began to fill the air, so the squad turned around to see Jacob standing there among several Marauders. He is still bleeding from his head and a few various wounds.

" Thought you could kill me!" he laughed "I have had worse!"

"She shot you in the head, how the hell are you still alive?"

"Because I am fucking religious figure!" he shouted "Not listen to any of the titles? Not hear of how I believed to become closer to god, one must sin? Because it sure as hell works!" He walks off laughing with his Marauders.

"I hate that man, so much." said Gyules once he was gone, the remains of their house burning in the back.

"Can you fix my leg now?"

"I will get you to the clinic." He then begins to walk off while Osman begins explaining possible places for them to live in.

The End


	22. Chapter 22 Fear

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 22: Fear

Due to their house burning down and most of their belongings destroyed, Omega is forced to relocate at Charlie's house and were currently sitting there tonight in his living room, forced to sleep on the floor and couches. They had all fought for the guest bedroom, but Osman got it for having personal relation to Charlie. Currently Gyules was fixing Mora's leg, those sitting in the room discussing about Jacob's apparent death.

"He was shot in the head, I shot him directly in the head. What kind of creature shrugs off a head shot without bearing an immense size or thick skin?!"

"I wish I knew, only possibly solution I can think of would be that you hadn't shot Jacob, but had shot a double. Notice anything different?"

"Looked and sounded just like him. He still had the wounds in his body as he was laughing at us. There is a blood trail I think even." she said

"Wonder if we can follow that..." said Gyules.

"It will be a waste." said Aiden "I do not believe there is something big going on here. I believe it is all...what is the phrase...smoke and mirrors. Jacob is plotting out things, manipulating the environment, but he is not doing this for any reason but his own entertainment. I observed the club and his actions, his many titles, he is trying to entertain."

"Man isn't exactly sane after all, I can accept that, but how would that explain the-" Aiden gets up and picks up the Boltok from Mora's dress.

"He specifically risked his life..." said Aiden examining it and the clip. He aims the gun at Gyules and fires into his arm. Gyules cringes and then looks down. The bullet had stuck into his arm, but has done no harm, just sticks there, leaking a red substance.

"That hardly hurt..." he said "The gun has had several parts removed and is using some sort of substance that sticks to the skin and leaks the red substance. Mora's gun actually did some damage, but you never shot anywhere fatal..." said Aiden "So right now he is resting and trying to recover, we are homeless, and all we can predict of him is that he will try and take our lives for Mora."

"The shit we do for you!" he shouted to her "You were our fucking prisoner, that damned Queen let us bodyguard you, and now we have one of the few people still fighting this war fucking trying to kill us!" said Tanner "I still do not understand why we protect her! Sure she is nice, a friend, but not worth this effort!" He lays down upon the couch and begins to rub his eyes a bit. Mora stands up, a bit angry at him and shouts to Tanner: "I cannot help it you humans decide to protect me or want to capture me!"

"No its not us who decides to protect you." Tanner turns over to Gyules, bearing a piercing glare at the young Gear.

"Its this fucker who decides we need to keep the midget Grub Princess amongst our ranks! Fuck I do not even see his reasoning other than a possible crush, so lets just get over it and hand the girl over to Jacob! Would you really kill us all for a girl we have known for like what...half a year!?"

"My reasoning is that we can-"

"You cannot believe any bullshit about changing Locust ideas and whatnot. The Locusts will never fucking change and peace can never ensure. Locusts have torn down society too much, killed too many fuckers, you expect humanity to just say:'"DERP! WE LOVE YOU FOR NOT SHOOTING US!' Hell no! I am going to make sure every Locust dies for the time for the time they took from us! I would love to torture Myrrah and force her to suffer for all of this. I-"

"ITS NOT OUR FAULT!" shouted Mora standing up "DON'T YELL AT GYULES! DON'T BLAME THE LOCUSTS! ITS ALL THE LAMBENT!" Gyules is just sitting there and observing, surprised at outburst, but trying to figure out a way to justify taking Mora along, to try and calm down Tanner. His argument was quite valid though...It hurt to say it.

"I don't care about the Lambent, its you own problem, I bet you could've handled them if you used your forces to fight the actual Lambent, instead of humanity. Ever consider that! Think how the Lambent could have been defeated if you used Karn and RAAM against them, if Boomers turned their boomshots to the Glowies! Your people didn't, instead they attack humanity who is damned innocent here!" Tanner shouted walking over to her.

"Tanner, this is en-"

"DON'T DEFEND HER AIDEN!" he said and shoved Aiden aside a bit, forcing the rather large islander down to the ground.

"I am going to get a fucking drink, a bar has to be opened somewhere. Maybe if I am lucky, some sniper will pop me in the head and get me out of this damned mess of a world!" Tanner stomps out of there and slams the door behind him. Gyules lets out a sigh and lays back, cursing to himself.

"Morale must be really low if Tanner is breaking." said Gyules and sighed "We need to either kill something or figure out a way to relax."

"You can try the hot spring." said Mora.

"Don't wanna be around a bunch of nude dudes and I doubt they integrate." He begins to rub his face a little bit, mostly towards his tired eyes. Aiden sits down within a chair.

"I do not blame Aiden for his thoughts. We have all lost much, it gets to even the strongest warrior. Think about it though, Tanner has spent his whole life fighting, spent his whole youth, never got to enjoy it, really has had much of his life stolen from him." said Aiden "Most of us are young, I am even younger than him, but Youkahainen..." Aiden shakes his head a bit.

"Sort of explains why he acts so young." said Mora "Still...can't we o anything for him?"

"Just let him drink a bit, relax a while. Possibly take him to the hot springs, or as much as he regrets it, Ilian might be able to make him feel better."

"Makes sense, for now, lets just...wait a minute..." Gyules grabs his rifle and then feels it a bit. He gets up and walks outside, firing his lancer on the ground. Bullet holes hit the ground, the gun still working.

"He didn't mess with our guns. Thank goodness." Gyules sighed in relief, walking back inside and just falling onto the couch. He quickly passes out, tired from today. Mora looks outside to the snow, noticing its starting to melt.

"What season is it? The Calenders have been so off."

"Its thaw." said Aiden "Soon the soon will melt and Brume will begin, where a large amount of Fog occurs, then Storm, then..." Aiden trails off a bit as he laid down upon the floor, muttering a few things to himself as he fell into a sleep, tired as well.

"They act like its so hard dealing with a berserker." she teased, but only to herself. Mora yawned a bit and laid back upon the table she was propped up on to get her leg fixed. She laid down and quickly fell asleep, lucky to be so small as she could fit on the table. The next day though, the guys woke up late, sleeping in. Aiden was the first one up and that was by noon, he got up to see Tanner had been thrown in, reeking of alcohol. He had gotten drunk and was more than likely thrown into here. Aiden walked over to him and began to nudge him a bit.

"Tanner...wake up." he said. Tanner began to slowly awaken, not opening his eyes but yawning and turning over, perfectly comfortable on the floor. Ilian entered the room from Charlie's kitchen, having obviously broken in here in the night with Tanner. She kicked him in the head lightly and Tanner began to get up. He was clearly hung over, but before he could complain she forced coffee and medicine into his view. Ilian stated blankly: "Swallow the medicine and drink the coffee, it will cure your headache. Medicine is very rare, be appreciative." Tanner could not complain, he was too tired. He merely too the little red tablet and then put it in his mouth, drinking the coffee to help him swallow it.

"Oh, I hope it works instantly."

"It does not and if I ever catch you getting drunk like that I am going to take your Markza." It was this comment that snapped Tanner out of his hung over state, pulling the Markza from his back and gripping it tightly.

"Not my Markza! She is my best friend, she understands my feelings and cares for me, when I need enemies to die, she spews out bullets and removes them! She is my every- wait I should not be saying when you are in the room."

"Going back to normal from that outburst?"

"I think drinking and sobbing helped a lot."

"You took enough jello shots to kill a man." said Ilian "I want you to preserve your liver and not drink for a while." she said.

"Oh what do you care! I left you at a damned alter at Halvo Bay. I do not see why you would care when I left you at one of the bloodiest battles in the war. More humans died in that battle than are left probably maybe not could be. And don't get me started on Locust casualties. Mora told me all about that." After Halvo Bay, they had to stop sending Kantus, Tickers, Bloodmounts, Shriekers, and Giant Serpades. Too many of those died off, including what they thought was the whole Shrieker population. The Giant Serapedes never recovered in population as a majority of their egg clutches were destroyed by Gears. RAAM had to make due without these for a while, let them breed and build numbers, though usually devoted those numbers to fighting the Lambent instead.

"I care because I love you." she said walking over to him and sitting by Tanner. He blushed a bit, then scooted away a little, only to be followed by her.

"You cared for me when we were kids and you just moved back to Gorasnaya, you were my only friend. Even as we grew up, I joined the army as a nurse even to just see you, though sometimes I played disguises."

"Of course you would...does that mean that handy was-"  
>"Me."<p>

"OH FUCK ME!"

"SHUT UP TANNER!" shouted Gyules, lifting his head up awakened by them.

"LET ME SLEEP"  
>"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" shouted Charlie from the other room getting up, wearing just his boxers, though they were scraggy.<p>

"You can stay here for the night, but if you remain loud I am going to remove you forever!" he shouted and then turned his head towards Osman's guest room in the hallway.

"THAT INCLUDES YOU!" Osman groans a bit and gets up.

"Let me get dressed!" After Osman got dressed, they were all forced out for the day, pushed right out of the door by Charlie. Mora walked out from the group and turned over to them, smiling and clasping her hands together.

"I think we should devout today to relaxing!" she said "We are all stressed after all. We, not including you Ilian, sorry, killed Skorge and with barely any time to settle down after we develop a new villain. We need a day to forget that there is a war."

"I have been trying that every day." said Tanner.

"I think we need some combat." said Ilian "Fair, straight up combat against something not human."

"I find that idea very offensive." The guys begin to state separate comments on how they are up for Ilian's idea.

"Good way to take out any anger, kill something that I know I can handle." Tanner said.

"I thought you were-"

"Meh, I have needed to kill a creature in a straight up fight. Do you have a place or us?" asked Tanner

"The leader of town expected me to help him with some sort of sewer problems. Some people saw something and I went down there for a look. Found a pipe that went to a large opening where Locusts and Lambent can enter freely. More than likely Lambent, because there is imulsion beneath the city."

"I never heard word of this." said Osman.

"They do not want it out, someone was digging a well and they hit some pile up of imulsion, it got into the sewers so now the toilets you piss in are filled with water mixed with imulsion." "

"Explains the odd toilet fumes, lets go handle that. You sure Locusts are there?"

"Saw'em, and I heard some sort of growling and a distorted voice I can only assume is Locust or Lambent. You will need gas masks, I can provide."

"I should ask why, but I don't care at this moment." said Gyules.

"I care enough to ask." said Osman as they began to walk to Ilian's house. After a short walk through town towards a shanty house. Her home itself was made from pieces of scrap metal boarded up crudely and rusting. A simple box was made with the metal forced together with old nails and rope. It was all over a place where a house once stood. Borusc was sitting upon the roof of the home, at least proving it stable. Some stacks of sheet metal were beside him, indicating he is adding more to their roof. She lead them inside which was a single room that could barely hold them. The room merely had two beds upon the floor, consisting of filthy mattresses with COG blankets (they bore the insignia upon them). There was a table made from a few pieces of wood upon two empty rusting barrels. Holes from the sheet metal in the ceiling and a lamp upon the table were the only sources of light in the dingy little area/. Several boxes sat scattered n their right corner. The inside of the house could hardly hold them all, so the members of Omega walked out and let Tanner see how she lived.

"You really live here?" he said looking over the area.

"We just had to set it up quickly after the caravan left, they no longer gave us housing so we had to purchase some things. Luckily I stole some supplies." she said and picked up a specific box and placed it upon a table.

"This is awful, you used to live a high class life. I never thought you would sink to such a desolate place of living!" he said and was to sit down, but then noticed no chairs. He merely sat on the ground then.

"We are going to add a few cinder blocks for seats, but I am fine here. Its cozy."

"Grungy more like it." She opened the box, in it containing several gas masks all thrown together. She then closed it and Tanner picked up the box.

"I will get it." he stated blankly as he walked out of the room and to the group.

"We got enough masks." said Ilian "Just enough for us. Sorry Borusc! You cannot come with us."

"I will continue my work." the Gorasni simply stated, getting up and going to add more to the roof, when it collapsed in on him, causing Borusc to fall through.

"This is a minor inconvenience."

Ilian attempts to ignore the thought of him doing anymore damage as she leads them through the city towards the hidden sewer entrance. It requires them to head through a poorer section of town, leading to a mostly barren area of land just past the buildings. The land bears obvious signs of combat. Sandbags set up from long ago dot the land, among barricades in front of buildings that survived, or remains of barricades to buildings that are no longer about. If one looks in the proper spot, they can see an area where a turret once was, but was ripped from the ground to be used elsewhere. It appears as if this area might have been a slaughter for the Locust. Many spots in the area in front of the barricades and sandbags are closed E-holes. A generous amount of blood still stains the ground from the Locusts being shot as they tried to climb up.

Mora sighed and as she kept walking past here, her leg still a little bit so she bore a slight limp, nothing that should hinder her too bad. She couldn't help but feel bad for the Locusts. E-holes are scary business for Locusts. As they take time to climb out they can get riddled with bullets or there is that fear of if someone throws a grenade in there. Even if they get out in time, at the edge of it is still dangerous during the explosion. Course she also heard stories of when these e-holes explode and sometimes Locust survive and get trapped in the rubble, in their own little area where they are wounded and bleeding, but forced to sit there, being crushed but not enough to kill them.

"You okay?" Gyules asked, falling back a bit and walking beside her.

"I am fine, just still thinking a lot more. Been trying to think about my own people, I feel a little...disconnected."

"Understandable feeling. You haven't seen many Locusts recently and now we are off to kill a few. Personally I wouldn't take you along...but I don't trust keeping you alone."

"I just want something to wipe out the Lambent and I want this over with. Then we can spend time not as enemies or as human and locust, but as friends." she said "That people will not judge us."

"Its something to hope for. At least you admit you like our company. Opened up much quicker than expected."

"Oh I was always interested in humans, sometimes I talked to POWs Karn captured or if RAAM had any, those usually he only captured people he could get info from. So I had some experience beforehand." she said smiling a bit. Mora then almost tripped as she walked out of a filled E-hole. Past the battlefield was the entrance to the sewers, where its obvious more Locusts had attempted to come up the stairs from there. Obvious by the blood stains and walls bearing bits of shrapnel. Osman accidentally kicks an old chain on the floor from a grenade. Its rusted to hell though, practically smashes into dust as his foot hits it.

"Any battle go on here?" asked Mora.

"This town had a few raids in the past, nothing major or worth mentioning." said Aiden "As you can tell by the fact that its still standing, it did not go well for your people."

"Yeah, Charlie was a gear stationed here for a while." said Osman as they began to linger down the sewer stairs. Soon it began to get dark and thats when Ilian sat down on the stairs to hand out gas masks. They were standard Imulsion worker gas masks, almost as if they had been taken right off a drilling platform. Probably were. They put them on, the mask clutching over their nose and mouth. Mora looks at it a bit confused and puts it on. Osman has a helmet with a filtering system (As all COG helmets bear), so he does not need a gas mask.

"So this prevents us from breathing in imulsion?" she said.

"Most of it, if the filter gets too clogged with the stuff we will start breathing it in."

"My people could have really used this. I still know its the Imulsion causing this."

"Been kind of obvious when the Lambent are puking imulsion, when a wretch falls in imulsion it comes out Lambent, or the imulsion left over from their explosion." said Gyules "Besides it doesn't stop them from falling in." Aiden takes a flash light Osman modded. He then grabs his Hammerburst and hooked the flash light onto the gun, right underneath the barrel. Gyule did the same with his Lancer, Tanner does so to his Makza, and Osman to the side of his Gnasher. Ilian and Mora are left having to follow the guy's light. The two try to stay in the center of the group as they keep walking down the stairs.

Its a short walk down before they arrive at the sewers, reeking of shit and imulsion. A majority of the water has dried up, but there is still a fair amount there mixed with the imulsion, emitting a heavy amount of fumes all having risen to the ceiling. Its practically lighting the ceiling of it, but there are walking on is dark, the area set aside for people to walk on. They can see a fair amount of it has collapsed at times, or a few flooded E-holes that had once been activated in the wrong spot.

Gyules looked over at an e-hole and then looked ahead, seeing the path they are on turns, but across from that is an area of makeshift shelter.

"Hey Ilian? What happened to the people here?'

"People?" He moved his head a little towards the shelter, indicating it to her. Ilian looked over, a bit surprised.

"I completely ignored those. Yeah those got to be old, more than likely dead." said Ilian "No one can survive her long term. The masks only last for so long."

"Of course such a thing would occur." said Gyules. The guys began to walk past him, but he continued to examine the shelter. It had a few bits of scrap metal put up to the ceiling, crudely put together with nails sticking out sharply, as one did not care for what was on the other side. A few holes dug into the side from the metal rusting away, where Gyules could see a mattress in there among a few collapsed piles of wood. He begins to walk with them, not noticing something scurry past one of the holes. As they walk ahead, they can see more structures and crude bridges build above the Imulsion. The structures were usually made of scrap metal sheets or pieces of wood. A few rafts floated in the once plentiful water of the sewers (Made of two barrels tied to four boards). An oar made from two sticks taped together and the rusted head of a shovel sat on top of the raft.

"Didn't notice this?" Gyules commented.

"In Gorasnaya we do not focus on minor things like structures or mysterious, we focus on our mission."

"BULLSHIT!" shouted Tanner. The curse echoed through the tunnels, ringing for a while.

"Sorry about that, but I know you would notice this. In Gorasnaya, they encouraged us to investigate something in case the enemy was there or a trap was ahead. You should have noticed things like so and looked about." said Tanner, glaring at her a bit.

"Well, all I can say is this is pretty creepy!" said Osman as he walked through. "I am expected for at any moment to find out what killed these people wasn't imulsion and realize they are zom-..." Osman looked over to his right, noticing something past his helmet. Upon a wall, a green, wrinkly, hand is gripping it. The fingers themselves were sharp like claws and are almost a bit scaly. Soon the hand slid off of the structure and he could hear the figure linger off.

"ZOMBIE!" he shouted jumping back and falling into Tanner and Aiden, knocking them back a bit, hitting the ground.

"S-somthing held that wall!"

"Huh?'

"A HAND! Some green...fucked up hand was gripping that wall. It left, but there is something there!"

"Must have been Lambent or somethin" said Gyules.

"Shit man it was a fucked up human hand. It was certainly not Locust Lambent!"

"May be a new type of it. Omega! Shape up, we don't know what is down here, but its going to try and kill us, so lets do so first." Gyules stated walking in front of the group.

"Especially you Osman.. Those movies you watch make you a bit more...prone to fear."

"I think it makes me more resilient actually!" said Osman. Tanner slowly places his hand on Osman's shoulder. Osman turns around quickly, gun raised and pointed at Tanner, gasping loudly.

"I hoped for screaming, still funny." Tanner laughed. He began to walk forward with Gyules and the rest. Mora lingered back to him.

"You gonna be okay?" she asked.

"I will survive. Besides, if I die these bozos are stuck fixing machinery on their own. Wanna know what happened when Gyules tried to fix a car?"

"I know nothing about cars, so I may not get this..."

"You should. He accidentally did something to the engine, I dunno what, but the engine later exploded."

"Funny..." said Mora, not really getting it and going back to the rest. Osman was now watching the back alongside Tanner as Gyules and Ilian were leading. After walking over a few more bridges, they found an entire little town built over the water. It was built from whatever they could find it seemed. Mora looked over to see it was supported on barrels. It was obvious the barrels were forced with nails, most of which were fairly rusted. It was a little shanty town though beneath the shanty town.

"We are lost." said Ilian.

"What!? We are following you!"

"I didn't go here." Gyules facepalmed.

"Then lead us where you went."

"I do not know how to get there." He sighed and sat down in a makeshift chair.. The guys lean back against the wall, though Osman is shivering a bit. His helmet hid his scared expression, as he is sure there is a monster down here. Something worse than Locust or Lambent. It obviously killed these homeless people, it had to! What else did, a little Imulsion only killed millions after all. He had his Gnasher out and ready, course he then thought he heard something. The members of Omega ignore it, trying to think of something to do. Osman begins to walk towards a small little hut that is just large enough for a bed. The door was bolted on, but bolts are rusted to hell as is the entire door. The door itself is marked with a large red X, made from a man's blood as he could not get paint, or so Osman hoped the reasoning was.

"What about a geobot?" Aiden proposed "If these sewers are big, could be someone had a geobot to navigate between places. Shall we start checking houses?" Osman begins to slowly creep forward and taps the door a bit, pushing it forward and feeling stupid. The door slowly creeks back and open farther. A girl is crouched upon a bed, hair thick and dangling as if it were composed of seaweed. She is crouched on the bed, arms pulled to herself to make herself as small as possible, as she feasted upon some unknown meal. She then slowly began to turn around, Osman able to see past the hair that her skin has turned green, her eyes glowing and teeth a bit sharpened. She then completely turns around and stands up, exposing herself as a Former.

"AH SHIT!" shouted Osman firing his shotgun at her and turning her into dust. From his right side he is tackled though, by a bald male Former. He is biting his arm and trying to claw towards Osman, who is holding him off and on the ground. Osman tangles with him, bashing his head with his gun onto finally the Former's head is turned into an imulsion like dust, the rest of the body following. Osman gets up quickly and begins trying to wipe it off, as more of them show up.

"ZOMBIES MAN! I TOLD YOU! ZOMBIES!" They begin coming from all directors. From right behind them, in front of them, over houses. A few begins crawling from underneath the entire structure.

Mora is the first to open fire, using her Hammerburst II at Formers and tore right through them. The weak Lambent began to collapse and die, but not at a fast enough rate as they begin to run at the group. One makes its way to a surprised Gyules, slamming its hand at him and scratching the armour, but leaving nothing visible. Gyules punched the Lambent being hard and killed it. He then took out his Retro Lancer and opened fire directly into the mass. Gyules used the inaccuracy to his advantage, bullets flying all through the crowd.

"Lambency jumped the barrier!" shouted Tanner "How did it do that? I thought it only affected Locusts!"

"I dunno! I have an idea, lets save our reactions for when they are dead." Gyules shouted as a Former came close to him. He slams the blade of his weapon easily into its chest, killing the creature. Osman is slowly lingering back to the group as Formers begin to swarm his postion. He is firing his Gnasher, but has to reload. At this point a Lambent runs over and slams its fist into his head. He falls back a bit and then slams into him several times before finally Aiden punches the creature.

"Thanks" he said as he finished reloading. He spins the gun and then slams it into a Former running at him, before firing at another.

"How many are there?" asked Mora.

"How should any of us know?" shouted Gyules. The crowd was dwindling and it was just the ones already out and running at them after a while. Gyules begins to reload once more, but then it hit in the face by a clawed hand, causing a large cut across his cheek. He falls back and then a few more begin to swarm him and bash at him, Gyules trying to defend with Retro lancer. Ilian is about to turn to him when she notices a few over by Tanner and shot at the creatures. Tanner turned to Gyues and began to fire his Markza at the five Formers around him. He shot three of them, enough for Gyules to grab his Snub pistol and fire at both of them. It took a few shots each, but killed them.

"I AM INFECTED!" Osman screamed as the last of them fell, falling to the ground himself and curled into a ball. He begins to shiver a bit and turned over to them.

"SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD! It bit me! I am not becoming a zombie, I am not going to turn on you guys. Don't be pussies and think, just because I am your friend, you will have trouble shooting me!" Osman tore off his helmet and grabbed at Aiden's waist, then used one hand to throw off his helmet.

"KILL ME! JUST KILL ME!" Gyules slammed the handle of his pistol into Osman's head, leaving a fairly large bruise. Osman fell back, gripping his head and cursing. He then quickly got up, one hand holding his head, the other hand out towards them, to try and stop Gyules from hurting him once more. He swayed a bit, clearly a bit dizzy from the head wound

"That is good, could be better, I need a bullet!"

"You are going to be fine." said Gyules, stepping forward as he said so "Look at your bite. Didn't go past your clothing. Besides, if Imulsion infected you by entering your body, turned you into a Lambent, then we would all be lament. Mora was damned puked on, how many Gunker globs have we survived, and it obviously takes massive amounts. These people have been breathing in the fumes every day and damned living in it. You are not going to be infected."

"But are we all doomed to that? Cause if we are, fuck I am not going through that man! I don't wanna end up some mindless creature being controlled by fuel, forced to wander about and kill any non lambent nearby!"

"We are not." Gyules retorted "These people were surrounded by it, the Lambent Locusts were exposed to too much imulsion, as long as we are not exposed to too much imulsion at a time, we will not go Lambent! You are just scared right now and being fucking irrational!"

"This shit is scary man! I thought only Locusts could be infected! I think its evolving man! This shit is evolving and I cannot help but be scared." Osman fell back against a shanty wall, nearly knocking it over, only because the structure is so weak.

"I am scared to die!" he shouted "I don't want to die, I feel like I have hardly lived. Wasted a majority of my life with that damned caravan family. When I look back at those times, I realize I never got to do shit! I wanna live my life and get to enjoy it, but its a bit hard when you got shit after you."

"Then leave." Gyules stated simply.

"Huh!?"

"Don't wanna fight things, wanna settle down do it. Be an average citizen, no COG left, you have perfect freedom to do so. Want to?"

"What! Well I...I dunno." Mora is about to step forward to state something, but her arm is pulled back by Aiden. He shook his head at her, telling her with a glum facial expression that she shouldn't interfere.

"Going to man?"

"I...*sigh* I dunno. I really do not know."

"We gotta a lot of things about. I think we need a decision now. You can either sit for yourself, or fight for everyone. The rest of us are going to go finish these things and save some lives." Osman sat there for a small amount of time, then got up and went to grab his helmet.

"I am going to fight with you. Feels a bit selfish when you put it that way, not to fight when I have the ability."

"Well..." Tanner teased. Osman punched him in the shoulder playfully.

"Lets just get going, I am feeling a bit better."

"After this, I am going to force you guys into the hot springs." Mora shouted "You guys keep breaking down."

"Sorry we have emotions!" said Tanner, facing towards Mora. He walked backwards as he stated his comment, arms out as if to tell her to come at him. Mora smiled a bit.

"And now none of us care the fact that it crossed the species barrier." Ilian pointed out.

"Is it still bothering you? Its creepy, its something to be worried about, but we haven't been exposed to imulsion for nearly long enough. Besides, the Lambent were going to try and kill us anyways, infecting is just a new method." Gyules stated.

"I do not see how that is comforting at all."

"Doesn't matter, right now, we gotta find a geobot."

The End


	23. Chapter 23 Betrayal

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 23: Betrayal

After such an attack, Omega is now very wary of their surroundings. The creatures could come from anywhere and they had no idea how many there were. Gyules was able to deduce that there must be a lot more, as these creatures are weak, attempt to use swarm tactics. If they sight one, more than likely there will be others and they can come from nearly anywhere. Currently though, they had been digging through houses in the town for a geo bot. They found a few, but they were usually too damaged to be of use. Osman still had a few moments of freaking out since his helmet was off a few times, but they calmed him down.

Currently, they were digging through a town armory. They had actual tables and pieces of concrete or chairs to sit upon. The room was torn apart, most of the furniture centered to the front door as a barricade, but had been pushed back and broken apart. A large bloodstain in the corner with a gun laying on the ground. A Gnasher to be specific, but too much blood upon it for one to wanna use it comfortably. Seemed someone had barricaded all of the furniture against the door, as it was thrown about the front of the room, partially damaged. The back door was open, with an old rusted lock hanging upon it, revealing a mini armory. Salvaged weapons and ammunition boxes sat within the room. Even an old Hammer of Dawn laser guiding system. Osman picked up the weapon and looked it over, then tossed it to Gyules.

"Think it works?"

"Not much use underground, but we can test it later, see if we get lucky. Most of the satellites are kind of damaged though." Gyules said and handed it to Aiden, letting the big guy take it. The Hammer of Dawn laser system isn't that big, but its still preferred Aiden carries it. Gyules looked back over to the weapons stash.

"Anything usable or that we can salvage? Might be nice to have some spare parts." said Gyules "The lancer pistons do get worn down over time."

"Everything is ruined. The imulsion vapors have been flowing through the floor, coating the guns and ammo. Clogged all of the parts and rotting much metal. I have never seen nor have I heard of such a problem with imulsion vapors and metals before. I take this as proof that this shit is evolving." said Osman.

"I have already seen the proof. Than goodness your people need not suffer like mine had in the early infections." Mora stated.

"Care to share us another story of the Locust history?"

"Just a short one. The Lambent infection at the start was originally quite worse. It used to weaken the victim at the start and originally made its way at the start, because it took over the body without killing the host."

"So it controlled their bodies while their mind was their own, had to watch. Sounds like marriage, now you know why I left." Tanner teased to Ilian. She slapped him hard.

"I don't believe that is something to joke about. The people could still talk was the thing. We had Locusts crying and screaming about how they do not want to hurt us and about how badly it hurt to be infected as they attacked. It was dreadful and a killer on so people's psyche. To watch your friend and look into their pleading eyes, ending their lives. It did this long ago, and now..."

"They will be defeated." said Gyules, attempting to calm down not only Mora, but all of his squad.

"We will all survive and they will be taken down. One way or another. Now lets keep going before we use up the filters on these masks." Gyules got up and began to leave the room, rifle in hand and ready to kill whatever comes by. He felt quite ready to kill Lambent at the moment. The squad followed him out and began to search the houses as well, finding a majority of them torn apart. A few times they found geobots, but they were broken. Rusted a bit to no harm, but someone had smashed them or torn them apart.

The men soon found themselves underneath the church itself in which its basement was visible and had large bolted doors. The doors were quite large large and well kept, obviously had been cared for. What had taken a majority of their focus was a geobot on the ground amongst a pile of blood. The geobot itself was relatively unharmed. Rusted a little, a lot of blood on it, but it should work well. The pile though bore quite a few other items in it. Rifle parts and pieces of armour scattered about. All of it stained with the blood. Several houses also dotted the area around town square, but very small houses that looked more like sheds than shacks.

"A geobot!" Tanner gleefully stated and ran forward. Tanner ran ahead of the rest and right toward the geobot, picked it up, but realized a very thing string hanging from it. He looked about the room and then put it down.

"Whats wrong?" asked Ilian. Tanner took out his gorgon pistol and pointed it at Ilian.

"Talk."

"What?"

"The Geobot is rigged." Tanner pointed out. He pointed to the string with his free hand and then pointed at what the string lead to, a device on a rooftop. Once the string is pulled, it would pull out a loose item holding up various bells and cans. The objects, once its activated, would hit the roof and pull down, creating enough noise to drive all the lambent to this area, and possibly something else.

"The device is crude, but it has not rusted enough to have been down here for the same amount of time as the rest of these objects, the blood is still wet, and you were the one who gave us the idea to go here. Your story didn't add up to begin with, that you were commissioned to clean the sewers, while obvious you have been here before...your house is too poor for you to have been working for the Prophet. We work for the prophet and were able to keep up payments of a nicer house with ease, though there were five of us, your house is clearly not worth the amount you would be paid, even if it was just you working."

"What is the point of this information my love?"

"I already said the point! You are working against us!"

"Tanner, this doesn't make sense." said Osman "She is crazy for you, could have also killed us at any moment. Hell do you realize how many times I see the opening to just stab the three of you and skip away scott clean!" The three he referred to snapped glares at Osman, he replied with an innocent shrug and they stopped.

"My one thought against the idea. Yet she also lead us here. Ilian lead us here and this town is huge, she should have noticed or saw it also. Either way she-" The sound of a man screaming rang throughout the tunnels. Everyone looked about and then gunfire joined the screaming. Soon, several men took off running at them. A redhead bearded Marauder ran right into Tanner knocking him over. Three other men took off their lancers firing behind them as they ran the whole way. One guy ran right into Osman and knocked him over (Osman greeted him once the man noticed whom he ran into), the other ran into Aiden, just hitting him and then slowly sliding down as if its a cartoon. Aiden is not swayed or moved at all by him.

"Okay we know who she is-"

"JUST GET SHOOTING! THEY ARE COMING! THEY ARE COMING! GOOD LORD! THEY ARE COMING!" cried the Marauder who hit Tanner, on his knees now.

"I don't wanna die, I DON'T WANNA DIE! KILL THEM! KILL THEM AND I WILL TELL YOU-" The top of the man's head is blown apart. Blood and bits of bone have splattered about, a bit of bone even hitting Tanner and cutting him a little. No blood drawn, just a stinging scratch. Ilian is holding a boltok that killed him. She then looked up as the sound of a Former screeching went through the hallway. A former ran into their view from across town square. Soon it was joined by others.

Gyules stepped up by Tanner and began to fire his retro lancer at the former group. Tanner took out his other gorgon pistol and began to fire at them as he retreated to their group. The Formers were charging, but struggling to gain any ground against a rifle the truck stopping rifle in the hands of Omega's leader. Soon they began to hear more, but not only them. The sound of Marauders coming to kill them was also in the air. Some were screaming, a majority were coming to kill them. Two men kicked down the door which had its hinges removed. They got behind cover along the sides of the wall. Omega separated into two groups, one group with Ilian, Tanner, and Osman into the house on their right. Aiden and Mora went into the house on their left, firing from the doorway and fallen ways of the house at the formers coming, but trying to avoid fire from the Marauders. Gyules is slowly retreating back while still firing at the formers

He hops back a bit and trips over the fallen geobot, hitting the ground face first, specifically on his cheek that was cut through.

"That stings! That really really stings!" he said and grabbed the geobot just in case they need it. The town square was a kill zone for Formers. The Marauders and Omega gunning down whomever ran into the area. The horde of Lambent was not thickening and one rushed through to the Marauders, jumping upon a man and clawing him up, but then they heard him poof and the Marauder was back up and shooting, though a tad bit hurt.

Ilian though was just hiding behind a wall and not shooting at anyone.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked, her finger tracing along the blade of her Lancer.

"IS THIS THE TIME TO ASK!?' Tanner screeched at the girl, killing a few formers with just one Gorgon pistol.

"I can tell you the whole reason for this...since you sort of got it figured." she said "and without the surprise, your entire company should survive. I-"

"How about later. If you wanna make it up to me, kill the Marauders there." said Tanner. Ilian walked out of cover and began to just walk towards the church.

"Get in here!" shouted a guy, motioning with his hand for her to come to them. The girl just slowly walked and ignored the former merely walking right into the room. Once she entered, she examined how many men there were. Seven Marauders were in the room, two guarding the two, the rest ready in case those men fall. Ilian walked over to a ladder leading up to the church. She climbed to the top of it and walked right into the catacombs of the church. Ilian merely takes out her only two grenades, activates them, and drops them down.

The marauders curse before the explosion went off, killing four of the seven men, specifically though waiting by the door. Ilian drops down and begins to gun down the men, not noticing the Formers coming behind her. The formers rush to the last man, now entering the basement.

"Shit are they gonna-"

"There is only a ladder I believe Mora. They will not enter town." Aiden stated, providing covering fire at the horde entering the church.

"I meant to ask if they are gonna kill Ilian!"

"I cannot answer that, it is all whether she is fated to or not." The horde of enemies are severely lessened, but a steady flow is still coming from town. Tanner runs out of cover though, shouting Ilian's name as he begins charging to the church. Tanner released the last of his gorgon pistols into the horde entering the church now and ran in to find Ilian already swarmed without others to take the heat. She is in the corner, rifle over her head that is being clawed up by the Formers. She is trying to hold them off as the few that can hit her. About ten have her corner. Tanner aimed her his gorgons at the group, above Ilian, only to realize they are empty. He puts them on his belt and pulled out his Markza.

"Come get some!" said Tanner. Seven of the formers start running at Tanner. He fired two shots into a male leading the pack, killing him and then a third shot into the head of another. Though he is then smacked by a former in the head, bruising his eye. He reeled back a bit and then as it went for another hit Tanner charged the former into the ladder, only to turn it into dust and hit the wall a bit hard.

"Ah my shoulder, that just hurt." Tanner stated as the remaining formers after him began to hit his armour and tear through it, knocking him back. Tanner hit the wall and then the ground, the creatures having torn through his chest plate and were clawing him up. Tanner, through the struggle of the creatures pulled out a frag grenade.

"Boosh!" he shouted and shut his eyes, about to activate the launch when several gunshots went off. He opened his eyes slowly and looked over, to see Ilian standing above him, holding her torn Lancer.

"Did you count me out?"

"No...just...can you help me? My hand is the only thing keeping the grenade from exploding right now." Ilian rolled her eyes and then began to take apart the grenade in his hand, removing the part that detonates and throwing it aside. Tanner let go and then sighed in relief, Omega walking up.

"Ilian, you are going to explain to us what you were going to do, any information that can help us survive, and if possible, medicate Tanner."

"I will be your captive." she said "Just make sure Youkahainen lives. You need not worry about any possible entrances out. My original mission beforehand I inspected this area and set up the trap, the sewers bear no way locusts or lambent can break in. We may take him to the hospital."

"PLEASE!" said Tanner "I think I can see my heart!"

"Big worm baby." Mora teased.

"Worm baby?"

"Isn't that how humans start..." Facepalms go all about, but now Aiden and Gyules carefully pick up Tanner and get him up the ladder and towards the town's hospital where Aiden remains on watch. Osman and Mora lead Ilian away to a place they sort of just found in town to act an Omega headquarters. Hopefully one that won't explode. Gyules went to talk to Borusc to gain any other information about what happened to Ilian and what she had occurred.

The End


	24. Chapter 24 Packing UP

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 24: Packing Up

Currently, the very day after the sewer incident, Omega has based itself in an old shanty house near where Ilian lived. They are holding her within the house and currently trying to figure whatever they can about Jacob and the Prophet. Ilian is explaining everything to Gyules and Tanner while Mora slept on a mere mattress they stole from some garbage, not informing her of the location its taken from.

Currently though Osman was sitting on a box left in the room by its previous owner, Gyules was sitting in the chair, the two glaring at Ilian. Osman was polishing the barrel of his Gnasher. Gyules had bandaging over his cheek and had to shave though so it wouldn't hurt to get off.

"Tell us everything you know. Starting with what the fuck is going on exactly!" Gyules demanded.

"I will not hesitate to. Merely, what is going is what Jacob does to Stranded camps. He comes to them with his Marauders, recruits whomever he can, and has his own, 'fun'. He toys with the people, tries to present this as one big show or story, going to great lengths to create myths and take resources. He tries whatever he can to seem immortal, which causes many of his people to believe he is some sort of god, which is one of the things he is trying to start. He uses a variety of methods, such as the incident with Mora and the Boltok

"Jacob is nearly done gathering all the people he can. He was going to kill your squad back at his club, but is planning to kill you in the attack on the town, then capture Mora, and take everything he can. I have survived one of these incidents. Borusc and I did specifically."

"What does he do with these attacks?" asked Gyules "It sounds like a process or something special..."

"He lures Locust into the area and releases them. The Locusts, and nowadays Lambent, attack and clash with the humans, then his people run in while they are weakened and kill those opposing them, now able to take whatever they want."

"I see..but why let us live and why betray us?"

"Too boring to kill you right there. He wants excitement. He specifically told me he wants an epic fight between you and him. He has a plan to how he is going to kill you. Specifically it involves stabbing multiple and once you are on the ground crying, he is going to shove a flagpole up your ass with the Marauders' symbol." Gyules sits quiet for a moment, attempting to imagine such an incident. His face clearly shows disgust in imagining such an image.

"I saw from the club attack, in which I was watching Tanner, making sure he doesn't sleep with any girls. After the attack and as Jacob returned I approached him and offered my services if he could guarantee safety for Tanner, Borusc, and I. Told me to bring you into a sewer trap his men were to set up. They would ambush, kill Osman and Aiden, wound Tanner, so I can take him away with me. Not as severely as he is now, which worries me as his chances of surviving the attack are severely low. Even with Aiden as a guard." Ilian expressed some sorrow and worry. She felt guilty in how he got hurt for her, when she could have been smarter and killed the Formers, then killed the Marauders. Her mistake got him wounded. She leaned back against the wall.

"Not much else to say. You won't be able to stop the attack, the Prophet is the one starting it this time."

"Should've figured." said Osman standing up. "That guy wants war, he wants us to fight more, Jacob is the harbinger of such acts. He just doesn't care who is fighting who!"  
>"So he is going to kill all of his people and himself to get this done..." Gyules sighed "Why can't he do it without Jacob?"<p>

"He doesn't want to die himself." said Ilian "The Prophet is scared of dying, he has already fled to Jacob's camp and will await there with his security. A majority of his church members have joined the group and are currently walking their way in. They are going to try and spread their belief amongst the people. More than likely will result in a clash as Jacob wants to be worshiped as well."

"Well alright then. Tanner is a fast healer, hopefully they can stitch up his chest and we will get him some new armour. The man should be raring to go just should lay on his back for a while."

"He is not ready for combat." said Ilian standing up.

"And if you baby him he will hate you more. Osman, start informing the townspeople of the imminent attack, I am going to go check on Tanner with Mora." Gyules walked over to the sleeping girl and merely picked her up, but then gripped his back.

"Fuck! Ow ow ow..." He picked her up wrong and rubbed his back a bit, but then picked her up again and had her over his shoulder.

"Why am I not surprised I awaken to being carried?" she asked once they got out of the door.

"Locust are going to attack the town, then Jacob will, we need to check if Tanner is ready to fight. Osman is gonna inform everyone and I don't trust you alone or with Ilian."

"Having you always around is really sort of...its starting to bother me lately."

"We gave you alone time, you came running back."

"I was worried! Can I have alone time in some other way?"

"I will see, now is not the time." Gyules trudged through town, it now being spring and heading into summer soon, which would be the new year. 17 A.E. This was the last thing on the mind of Gyules, but Mora thought of it, having been dreaming before of the future. She had a most frightful dream that they remained in such a situation for over twenty years, her being stuck with the aging humans, humans, Lambent and Locust fighting, this just lasting forever. Such a dreadful thought. Course this was not the first time she dreamed up such a thing, this dream had been going on every night for weeks. Mora was desperate, she wanted to find out something, anything to end the current situation of the world, which she felt was so easy to fix yet so difficult.

The Locusts threw so much at the Lambent she thought any day they would end until the Hollows flooded. Any day the infection is just defeated or cured or no more Lambent. That hope was still in the girl, but was dying at such an intense rate at. She was losing more and more hope, already thinking ideas of suicide if life just stuck like so forever. Without hope of change, really, what is there left here? The guys are still nice, even generally other humans, though she tries not to associate with them, treat her well, but still want some hope for her people.

Gyules set her down as they began to near people. The two were walking through the Stranded and towards the hospital.

"So are we going to finally kill Jacob?" Mora asked after a period of silence.

"Yup."

"Then what are we gonna do? Just lounge in here."

"We are leaving, going to wander again. Sitting in a town for a while just gives me a headache." Gyules noted.

"At least we weren't killing Locusts."

"Sort of why its a headache." She shot a glare at Gyules and then sighed as she continued to follow him.

"So where are we going?"

"To check on Tanner and Aiden, Osman is informing the town's militia and whatnot."

"Shouldn't we be informing them instead? Best he doesn't go alone."

"No the people will listen to Osman better than us, besides once we get to Tanner, unless he needs more medical help, which I doubt, his wounds were bad but are easy to fix. You are going to go with Aiden and Ilian, starting to escort him out of town. I will be searching for Osman. Borusc is probably going to end up coming along as well."

"We are taking Borusc and Ilian?"

"Tanner is going to feel too guilty if we leave her behind, Borusc has some sort of connection to her so he just protects her wherever she goes, so they are our new additions it seems."

"Well the two sort of a bit bland, but hopefully they will be fine." said Mora, a bit worried a larger squad might lead to them getting caught by Locusts more. Let alone if they ever see her mother again how Borusc and Ilian would react. Probably scared of the Tempest, she cannot understand why when its so cute. She just continued to walk with Gyules as they were nearing the hospital. Course farther off in the city, devious things were going on.

In their club, the Marauders were setting up their attack on the town, using a map of the town and reports from scouts on where Locusts are heaviest. Jacob was leading the discussion.

"So fuckers, we gotta do this soon. I am getting bored as fuck and I can use a damned good fight."

"Well, there is minor Savage Locust resistance all about the town, but I recommend coming from the north as you left a majority of our units at that old COG base." said a bespectled Marauder who usually did tactics.

"I did?"

"Yess..."

"I knew that. Anywhom! We will send two of my 'special squads' in that usually let Locusts in. One will be opening the gates, killing those guards silently if they attack them, the others will be at the hospital on the south side of town. Omega squad has a guy there and they are going to try and protect him as they get him out, good time to get them in one place. I demand one of those squad members brings me the Locust cunt. Wait let me reword that. Bring me the Locust bitch, not just the cunt. Didn't go over well last time I just said that. Only got that part!"

"Right...I will be sure to inform them, when shall they start the attack?"

"Now. I am bored as fuck, what the hell am I supposed to do but kill people! Thats what we did when we had civilization. Just in the form of war or video games. In video games is virtual, but if we think with the multiverse theory, then that states that any possibility is possible and you are killing people in another dimension."

"Err...right sir."

"Really makes writing things fun then because then you are god of that world, but enough of that, simple tactics as always? Once Locusts are rushing in and killing everyone, we rush in behind and start to slaughter the Locusts, force survivors into our ranks or as servants?"

"Yes, I will use radio to contact our men and have them get into position. I will send the commando squad to the hospital, send the other to the door when our troops are in position." Jacob pats the guy on the back.

"You know what I like. Now I am going to go listen to extremely happy music and start preparing. More than likely I am gonna duel Gyules. He is the sort of guy who would be the protagonist in the story of a town being attacked by dangerous men. Course this show is realistic, protagonist doesn't always end happily" Jacob said as he grinned at the idea of killing him, then stopped. Already bored with this idea having done it several times before. He just walked off and the Marauder began to instruct men, but then pulled a knife from his belt. He looked to Jacob and then the knife a few times.

"It would really suck if someone stuck a knife in my back right now!" Jacob shouted as he stretched a bit "God my back really sucks..." The Marauder began to walk to him with the knife a bit but then stopped and sighed, putting it away. He wasn't going to kill him, as he much as he wanted to.

Gyules on the other hand, was just arriving at the hospital by the time this scene finished. He walked into a once clean white room, now a tad bit grimy and dirty, though they tried to keep it clean obviously, even had a janitor cleaning the room, but it was a bit much for their resources. The seats had several people sitting down, filling out old forms in pencils, forms once used before by others but had all of the info erased before. If one really looked though they could still make out some of the writing though. The seats they sat in were old hospital seats, not exactly comfortable as they once were, but fair enough. Better than sitting on a cinder block. Gyules walked over to the girl at the reception counter.

"We would like to visit Youkahainen Tanner."

"Go right in, room 109." the woman said "We cannot get his friend out, why deny anyone else." The two smiled a bit, glad Tanner resisted the hospital attempting to get him out. The woman then pointed to the hallway to their right and they began walking down it, making their way past rooms until they got to 109. It was a small single room, with a bed, but no equipment. A blood packet was set up to be hooked up to Tanner, but its not. He is wearing the shirt he would usually wear beneath armour, a Gorasni chest plate sitting on the floor as he is checking his weapons. He is a little pale, but other than that seems fine.

"I stole his items taken before, took some armour from Borusc so now he can be dressed like a true Gorasni."

"How is your chest?" Gyules asked.

"It will hurt a lot with the armour, I must note. Other than that, its fine. Just can't strain my chest muscles and I gotta remove the stitches in a few weeks."

"Sure you are fine, you were really bad when we were rushing you there."

"I endure and besides Ilian told me everything, its either get ready or get shot." he said. Mora is slowly sneaking around Gyules as they talked. Before Tanner could say anything else, he was struck in the chest by Mora who was sneaking past Gyules. Tears swelled in Tanner's eyes and fell back. Mora sat down next to Aiden.

"Ow...did you... have to?" Aiden gave Mora a high five and she sat down next to him and was laughing herself.

"Its too funny to watch a human in pain!" she laughed. Gyules glares at her and Ilian gives Mora a death stare, causing her to become a little pale with fear.

"Oh and I have Borusc going after Osman. He is going to watch from the rooftops." Taner bent over and grabbed the armour, putting it on and securing it. Ilian helped him a little. Just as Tanner put it on, he noticed something through the broken door. Several men in armour and with weapons upon their backs were moving closer. Through the broken door a guy threw a grenade in.

"Shit!" shouted Gyules as everyone except Aiden stepped back. Aiden picked up the grenade and tossed it out, the grenade exploding and damaging the door enough that it fell down. The men in the hall way had run back and then Aiden took a Lancer off of his back, holding it down low and firing it down the hallway where no cover was available. There were four men, three of them managing to dart into hospital rooms. One of them was being riddled with bullets by Aiden. Hospital patients were shouting and people began to freak out a bit. Aiden got into cover by a wall in the hallway. Gyules and Ilian got into cover by the walls of the room. Mora just got next to Gyules and Tanner by Ilian. A commando prepared another grenade and threw it from a room at the end of the hallway. The grenade slid back into the room and so Gyules kicked it back. The grenade exploded in the hallway, harming no one.

"I think Jacob is already attacking." said Mora.

"Ya think?" asked Gyules "Nobody provide suppression fire, we shoot when they come out!" The commandos were reluctant to come out, but had orders. There went a while of silence and then Aiden stepped out of cover. All three of the remaining commandos opened fire as Aiden rushed back into cover.

"Well, they got secure positions, what are we to do?" asked Mora.

"I got an idea, just get ready with your weapons." he said.

"Wait, what are you-" Gyules started running out of cover, a Roadie run. He ran towards the nearest guy who had come out of cover to shoot and jumped at him, hitting the guy and knocking him back, while Ilian just popped out of cover and fired her snub pistol at the commando at the end of the hallway. The few shots buffed his armour and he stepped back a bit a bit. She fired a shot at his head and hit the soldier's helmet, knocking it back. He abandoned the helmet stepping back into cover. Gyules was meanwhile wrestling with the man, holding his arms back. Gyules rammed his head into the guy's, both of them falling back and holding their heads. Only Gyules took out his knife and slammed it into the guy's neck. It went right through his neck and spine, blood bursting from his throat. He pulled the knife out and put it back. Gyules then stepped out a little and a guy fired at him, the same one at the end of the hallway. Gyules just quickly pulled out his Lancer and fired it upon him, shooting the guy in the chest until he fell over dead. He stepped out entirely out of cover and in the hallway.

"Last one still here?" he asked.

"I think he left, probably sent a report back to his leader." said Aiden. Most of the hospital patients either were too wounded to notice or a bit too scared to answer.

"He could be setting up a trap elsewhere also, but probably not smart enough too. Either way, everyone be on guard." said Gyules "Either way, you gotta start getting out of here. Mora, Aiden, escort Tanner."

"I am going with." said Ilian.

"Do whatever you want. I am just gonna go get Osman and Borusc, then we are getting out of here."

"Then I will go with Gyul-"

"No, there is a reason I am sending you with them. Jacob wants to do some bad shit to you, shit that would make you wish you were dead, so I want you out of here and out of danger as well. We are going to be trying to avoid trouble here." Just as he said that, the last commando showed him, throwing a smoke grenade at them. The grenade exploded and knocked the all to the ground. Everyone began to cough at that time from the thick smoke, but b the time cleared, Mora is gone.

"Fuck, I thought those things were useless!" shouted Tanner.

"Shit, everyone okay?"

"Mora is gone." said Aiden.

"Of course...well great I am gonna have to go save her. Osman and Borusc will be my back up, just get Tanner out of here."

"Alright, where should we meet up?" asked Aiden.

"Just head wherever you desire." said Gyules and pulled off of his belt a flare gun.

"Found one of these, I will launch it when we are out of town and then you activate your radio. Power is limited but we will discuss where to meet then. Now I gotta get running." said Gyules. Aiden nodded to him.

"Just be sure to save her." Tanner advised "I gotta get revenge for the chest smack, also I think Myrrah would sodomize us with that giant beetle of hers if Mora is." Gyules nodded and ran to the door. He would run to find Osman by the gate, Borusc should be nearby, then he would march his way to Jacob's club. Aiden lead Omega 2 out the door and over the wall, into the wilds.


	25. Chapter 25 Invasion

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 25: Invasion

Gyules was running not only to find Mora, but to find Osman and Borusc. At this point in time, he wished life was a video game. Where you just get a waypoint. Follow some sort of arrow pointing the way or some shit. At the very least, he had an idea of where to search for Osman. Borusc should be nearby. More than likely Mora was going to be with the Marauders. That is an idea, at the very least its nice to have an idea, but little else is known enough.

Gyules approached the gates where Osman was informing men who were passing down info. He waved to him and Osman waved back, jumping down.

"Hey man, I told everyone of what is to occur. Currently they are all eager to shoot the Marauders."

"Good, except we gotta go face them." Gyules shouted to Osman as he jumped down. Osman walked over to him a bit confused.

"What's up?"

"Our girl has been taken. Marauders attacked us at the hospital and a smoke grenade was thrown. In that time they took Mora."

"So where is everyone else?"

"Tanner is a bit too hurt so I sent him off with Ilian and Aiden, its you, me, and if we are lucky Borusc."

"Hopefully we will find him, but I didn't see him. Now do you know where she is?" Osman asked as Gyules began to walk away from the gate, moving his Lancer from his back to his chest. Osman moves his rifle always and follows him. The start walking past the church which has been fortified. The large doors have been barricaded and snipers are now on the roof. All of the people the church once employed are all waiting and ready for the Locusts or anyone who attacks.

"Remember the creepy totems they made?" Osman brought up as they walked by.

"Really wish there was more to that , but just a cult is all. Wasn't even that much of a problem."

"Just quite the odd people. People are always trying to seem deeper and more than they are. Naturally humans want to feel like they are more than a simple human, than a statistic or a person in the crowd. So they do whatever the fuck they can to get noticed and feel like more. That's why Jacob is doing the shit he is doing now. He wants to be more than a human and from the looks of it, he wants to feel like some sort of prophet or a saint or some goddam bullshit. Either way, he is still a homo sapien who bleeds like everyone else."

"And we are going to be sure to make it so he no longer bleeds."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like...empty his body of blood...when we kill him...in a bloody and painful way?" Gyules facepalms at his comment and then puts his hand on his shoulder, the other hand just letting his rifle hang down.

"That was awful. Really awful. Promise me you won't say anything lame like that again."

"I can't help you find what I say is stupid or not!" he said and then began walking forward. Gyules began to follow him.

"Lets just get this guy and hopefully you won't fall down a hole again and put me against odds."

"Hey, you handled Skorge well. Got a little hurt, but consider you were alone. Probably survived longer than I would have if Mora wasn't there. Even if she sucks with a gun..." The two kept talking on their fight with Skorge as they marched onwards to rescue Mora.

The commados though, had already gunned down the men guarding the entrance to the gate and set up a perimeter. Two commandos sit on rooftops with Longshots to snipe anyone who comes by with a gun. They had two men facing right and left to shoot down any men who come to fight them in case the snipers are busy with anyone else. Four men operate in the center, two were opening the gates, the other two were setting up a savage Locust alarm shell (Specifically one man held it in place while another blew into it). They waited to blow into it once the men opening the gate were ready. The men nodded after a minute. The commando gathered all of the air in his lungs before blowing into the massive shell. The sound made its way throughout town and to the surrounding area, alerting any and all Locusts who had set up camps in the vicinity. With that sound the gates were forced open, then the mechanisms to open them were ripped out. The snipers stayed in place, but the rest of the commandos threw out smoke grenades to conceal their exit.

With the sound of that horn, people were panicking and gathering their weapons or fleeing opposite of the gate to try and escape town. Men could not go near the gates, less risk the snipers shooting them, whom were shooting anyone in their sight that wasn't Marauder or Locust.

At the sound of the horn, Aiden lifted his head instinctively. Ilian was monitoring Tanner as they had tumbled down past the wall and now searched for a place to set up in to camp in until the others returned and the attack ended. If they returned, luckily radio contact was set up so they could at the very least, know if they are alive or dead. They can also just annoy the shit out of them and risk their lives by screaming into the radio and making annoying noises.

"I believe that horn means the Locusts are going to start shooting up their assholes?"

"Tanner, that is a disgusting mental image." Ilian scolded.

"Well, if I know Locusts like I know Locusts, they are more than likely going to swarm and basically do so. Since it seems a majority of their combat relies on numbers or giant fuckers. The giant fuckers have become scarce since a majority of them did kind of drown because they are slow. So more than likely they will have a number of Locust forces and following them Lambent. Bam bitch! I know the enemy better than you!" Ilian appeared annoyed at Tanner. She slapped his chest plate and he cringed it in pain, falling over. He was silent rather than screaming, his face depicting the agony he is in. Ilian hoisted Tanner up over her and was about to follow Aiden, when he pulled Tanner from her and carried him.

"I can walk you know." said Tanner. Aiden dropped him and Tanner hit the ground on his chest. He tried to remain silent and after a while of laying there, let out an inaudible "ouch" and got up, taking out his Gorgon submachine guns. Aiden moved his Hammerburst II to his hands and Ilian her Lancer to her hands. They began to walk, prepared for any hostiles into the forest around the town.

Aiden took point, watching for anyone after them. Ilian took rear guard and Tanner watched wherever he could, bearing the best battle vision of them all as he is trained to spot enemies, but not entirely combat ready for point.

"Think Gyules will be fine?" Ilian asked, to break the pressing silence on them.

"Should be fine, Osman might get hurt, but should be fine. I think our entire squad proved ourselves in Hollow Storm." Aiden pointed out "We started out with twelve split into two divisions, the four of us are who survived."

"We were sort of the squad of people the COG didn't wanna deal with. Most everyone was half Tyran and somethin else. Hell, remember those two UIR guys." Tanner stated smiling. Aiden was trying not to be distracted by the conversation, but then lowered his gun and laughed a little. Not a very common sight for the ever wise Islander.

"Those men were fools, but their ammo and rations were good!"

"Two UIR?" Ilian asked, a bit confused as Aiden regained his stance.

"Two guys who were former UIR came into our squad and tried to act like they were still against us and yet never proved of much use. Osman told us about how when they first entered the Hollow they came under attack right away and they got frightened and tried to run off. Instead they got shot as they tried to run off. Course, everyone in Omega-One besides Osman died."

"Interesting." she said, though wasn't really. As the two members of Omega reminisced, the Lambent were preparing. A large stalk busted through ground before them, knocking Tanner onto his ass. The three of them quickly got behind separate trees as Lambent forces began to emerge. Two more stalks came out from the ground, one of them bending into the original stalk. Lambent forces were flooding out now, menacing and armed with whatever guns were on the corpses of the infected Locusts. Ready to kill whatever was not infected in the vicinity, but targeting the members of Omega. Though the sound of the Lambent hid the sound of Locust horns sounding off in the distance. When one sounded another would go off from another Locust camp, the horns being used a form of communication to alert every Locust they could.

In town though, Gyules and Osman were rushing to the mansion, but had to fight the crowds of people trying to leave. Many had taken to the idea of entering the church as it seemed to be fortified right now. The church was denying everyone entry and forcing people back. Parents attempted to put their kids in front and prayed they would at least let their kids in, but they too were denied. Osman looked back to it and sighed.

"I am going to help."

"What?"

"These people need refuge and safety. I don't give two shits what anyone says. That church can keep them safe."

"What if it doesn't?"

"It has tunnels though, it goes beneath the town, I am sure they can rush past the imulsion fumes and find a way out or sit in the basement." he said and began to rush forward. Gyules sighed and followed him, just wanting to get Mora and get out. He didn't care as much for the people as Osman did.

Osman began to push through the crowd best he could, holding his Lancer above the people. It took the help of Gyules though to push through and made them to the window where a man was looking through an opening. Osman lowered his head to the point.

"Yo man, let them in!" he shouted to him above the people. Gyules pinched the bridge of hise nose at his attempt. Gyules pushed Osman aside and stepped over, pulling out from his belt a grenade.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP OR I WILL BLOW US UP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, leaving his voice a bit hoarse afterwords. Everyone went silent and the people in the church aimed their guns at him, snipers taking position. Gyules leaned over to the window.

"You gotta let people in. They have guns and help defend in case Locusts enter. If you don't they will force their way in and leave the door open for when the Locusts come." he pointed out.

"Prophet's orders though! Don't let anyone in!"

"Look at those people. They are people you dealt with every day, you are really willing to let them die for the words of an old man? The man wants fighting, not a massacre. They are probably going to be at these doors until the Locusts come rather than go home and defend themselves. Besides they are gonna draw a lot of attention to your church and a lot more focus there." The man sighed and then looked over to the people at the doors.

"OPEN THE DOORS! LET THEM ALL IN AND GIVE THEM GUNS! Those who cant fight get into the basement!"

"But sir-"

"THEY AREN'T GOING TO LEAVE UNTIL THEY GET IN! SO GIVE THEMW HAT THEY WANT!" It took a few minutes, but then the doors opened. The people began to swarm their way in. Familiar faces went by, such as those who worked at the hot springs and the twin neighbor girls. Charlie gave Gyules a thumbs up as he entered. Osman got up finally and brushed himself off.

"K, I didn't think a threaten of suicide would work."

"It always works if other lives are at risk." Gyules countered and began to walk off "Now c'mon, we gotta save Mora." Osman ran up a little to follow him. As the two walked off they heard the doors slam shut and soon they could hear Locust battle cries as they ran into the city. Bullets were being fired by the Snipers on the church, putting down as many Locusts as they could while trying to stay safe.

"Sure they are gonna be fine?"

"More than likely the Locusts are gonna attack the church and they will try and hide the top of the entrance to the sewers and sit in there. Hopefully no formers are down there, but I feel pretty certain they probably mapped an escape route or at barricaded those doors."

"I hope so..." Osman said, praying Gyules is right . The guys began to rush forward but soon gunfire went on behind them. Locusts were flooding the streets and a Savage Grenadier was leading soldiers to attack them, using whatever weaponry they could find and supply ammo to. The Savage Grenadier shouted to church as his Locusts began to run at Osman and Gyules firing. The two quickly got into cover behind buildings and blind fired their Lancers down the street as suppressing fire. They could hear a few groan from being shot. Gyules peaked from cover a little bit once to see two Locusts fallen to the ground and several others were in cover. Past their battle, Locusts were running past them and into the city. A grenadier fired a snub pistol at Gyules and he went back into cover. He snickered a little at the idea of trying to kill him with a pistol. Osman poked out of cover and began firing at the Locust with the snub pistol who was standing out. The Locust fell dead, groaning a little. Another popped out from a building to shoot Osman, only to be shot quickly by Gyules.

The two played this strategy, manipulating the Locusts easily. One shoots at the man who shot another and then you shoot him. They kept this strategy to kill three Locusts until one came behind Osman, having gone around the building. He shot at him with a hammerburst. Osman tumbled away and Gyules lined up, shooting the Locust once he was open. He kept firing until his clip died to shoot another who was looking into the ally. He reloaded, performing an active reload and smiling.

"Fuck yeah! Now lets get going, we are too close to the entrance, too thick out here." he said.

"No complaints here." Osman stated and reloaded. The peace did not last long. Osman ran over to Gyules side once he was sure no Locusts wold spot him. The two began to walk through allies between buildings, where cover was little, but enemies were not traveling. They scarcely saw any Locusts and those they did came from behind and Osman had the rear guard, killing them quickly when spotted.

They were making their ways through until eventually the two ran into Marauders Commandos, the same who had opened the gates. The y quickly got into cover. Two of them went into an opening to the street, while the other two huddled together behind a dumpster. Osman got into an ally opening as well and Gyules behind another Dumpster.

"Watch for Locusts Osman, I am going to kill them." Gyules stated.

"Sure you can take-" Before Osman has finished that sentence Gyules has thrown his grenade, which landed behind the dumpster. The men shout in unison: "SHIT" before the grenade goes off and blows them apart. Some blood rains down in the area. Gyules stood outside of cover and began to whistle as he walked forward, holding his Retro Lancer now. He stepped past the dumpster and a Marauder stepped out to shoot. Gyules quickly gunned him down before he did with quick reflexes. He leaned against the wall.

"Gonna use my last grenade Osman, can you loan me one later!" he shouted. The Marauder began running to get out and hopefully make his way around to flank them, hoping no Locusts were past the building. Instead Gyules just stepped past and opened fire upon the scared Marauder. The bullets tore his minor armour and flesh, killing him.

"Don't need the grenade!" he called back to Osman who began to approach him. Gyules deposited the clip and looked in to see how many bullets were in. It was enough.

"The Marauders are starting their attack, the true battle is beginning! We should hurry!" he said. Osman just nodded and began to follow him, the two of them rushing forward in the ally. The streets were filled with far more gunfire and explosions now. The sounds of Marauders screaming orders could be heard as they were expertly fighting Locusts.

"Gyules, even if we kill Jacob, what are we gonna do about the Marauders? Aren't they gonna want us dead and just swarm us? I assume Jacob will have security as well."

"We kill them and without Jacob they won't have too much leadership and will probably far apart. Begin fighting over things and separate. Unless they have other forms of leadership, in which case its just one more enemy for us to fight then. Nothing we can do now."

"Why are you so willing to risk our lives for Mora?"

"None of your business."

"Got a crush?"

"Nope."

"Then why?"

"Her mother will kill us if anything happens to her, she keeps morale up among you guys, she adds extra fire power against Lambent, yet doesn't turn on us when Locusts attack, and has a unique personality."

"Unique is a bit vague, man."

"You know her, you have seen how she acts. She is different, she hasn't been broken by a lack of supplies and hasn't been around all of the death and destruction. A real innocent of the war. She has not let it affect her as it shout, considering she actually talked to us when we killed her guards, tied her up, and let Conway deal with her. The girl has dealt with her people absolutely hating humans her whole life. Her mother preached about hating us. Yet she defied them all and never really hated us. As much as she wanted to talk big about Locusts ad wahtnot, she never really seemed to believe it and took the time to get to know us. I applaud her on that, its hard to resist people when they teach you something your whole life. Hell wish I could say I don't hate Locusts even if I know they were just taught this way, but all of the attacks and whatnot, I lie when I say I don't hate them."

"Interesting, I still think you like her there."

"Think all you want, doesn't make shit true." The two would begin guiding their ways through the allies, making sure to watch for any enemies. At most they encountered a few Locusts coming from behind, searching for kills. They easy to kill, but sadly never carried Lancer ammo. They kept running into dead ends until eventually a conversation was sparked about ammo.

"Hey Gyules, how many clips you got?"

"Six."

"Six!? Where the hell are you keeping the six clips? I am at two with currently half of one in my Lancer."

"I am not carrying a pistol, I replaced my pistol holster with another ammo pouch for the Lancer. Need a clip?"

"Probably gonna need one, yeah..." Gyules is about to open his pouch when they hear gunfire.

"FUCK TAKE THAT SHIT OUT!" shouted a human voice from behind a wall. Soon after that there was the iconic "BOOM" shout and an explosion. The wall in front of them was blown apart, a damaged weapon on the ground in the blood remains of a man.

"Must have been an active reload." Osman stated while Gyules tumbled past the hole and got into cover. He swapped to his retro lancer and began to fire into the Boomer. The bullets tore through the Boomer's flesh and it took half the active reloaded clip, but the Savage Boomer fell over dead. A few Locusts shouts some orders and began to run into the room, which was a little living room . There was a couch, a box that had two stone chairs by it with a chest board on it, all of the pieces now scattered, and there were a few boxes in the corner. Currently a Locust ran into cover behind the couch and another was behind the box, the only real pieces of cover in the room.

"Kind of an empty place." Osman noted upon peaking in.

"Well, how full was our home?"

"Good point. Eh, I don't wanna deal with this." Osman pulled out a frag grenade, then threw it into the room. It landed right in the area between the two Locusts, exploding and sending shrapnel into them. It knocked back the one by the chess board, wrecking the box with shrapnel, and killed the one by the couch. Gyules walked into the room and then over to the Locust. He flipped the Locust with one leg and slammed his foot onto his skull, completely crushing it. He then started walking forward, but slipped on his own foot, hitting the ground hard.

"Fuck, my boot is slippery." he commented. Gyules stood up and had a large swollen bruise on his forehead. He sits upon the couch and peels the face flesh off of his boot. Gyules got up then and walked around fine.

"C'mon, lets hurry." said Gyules. Osman nodded.

"Lets get to the roof, see if we can get an idea of where we were compared to the mansion." Gyules ran up the stairs in the room, Osman following him. They quickly ran up a second set of stairs and made it to the roof. From there they could see the mansion in the dawn, but it was not pretty. The area had been bombarded and many of the buildings destroyed. A barricade was set up outside of the mansion with sandbags and a majority of paths to get to the building were blocked by destroyed buildings or piles of sandbags, causing anyone who wants to attack, to have to take a thinner path that went around a corner and right into Mulcher fire by Marauders, who had boxes of the ammo, made from whatever scrap metal they could find. Though not visible to the two, more than likely they had figured out a way to reload the Mulcher. They could see the hordes of Locust past the destroyed buildings, trying to run in thick groups and getting gun downed. Usually one would try and stay in place and then would be pushed out by another who wants to rush forward.

They specifically watched as in one tunnel, a berseker made its way. The Berserker got within twelve feet of the barricade before two men began firing Flamethrowers at it and burning it, several others without Mulchers firing whatever they could and Snipers from the roof firing at it's head. Before long the Mulcher died and the back up men aided the Mulcher man in killing the Locusts whom were behind.

"So...observing this perfect strategy...how do we get in?" asked Osman, pulling off his helmet and watching the stairs in case anyone comes up. Gyules stayed from the edge and watched for snipers.

"We gotta get around that, or we gotta wait."

"Wait for what? For them to finish off the Locusts who are too dumb to try this!?"

"The Locusts have lost their little intelligence and gone Savage, desiring to kill any human they can. The Lambent are going to join soon, there are stalk behind us." he pointed out "I feel bad for the poor saps dealing with those, they obviously came out to fight something there, but the Lambent cannot resist conflict this large and they can actually get troops in this time. That and since they advance everyday...I just said the option, I am going to save our girl there and go around. We just gotta watch and make sure they have nothing planned to handle Locusts going around. Let alonet hey also have death squads all about killing Locust and human alike.

"You know too much on war, man. Can't wait till this shit is over."

"Well, it isn't going to end itself anytime soon." Gyules patted his shoulder and began running forward to the other rooftop.


	26. Chapter 26 Demise

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 26: Demise Pt 2

Elsewhere from Gyules position, at the same time as he is on the rooftop, Mora is being aided by Savage Locusts sitting among them with the body of the commando beside her.. She had been captured for a little while, but escaped and killed the man.

What had occurred was different than what was thought. The commando ad actually gone outside through a window and had forced a hand over her mouth pulling her out. She had seen many points to escape and chose not to. Mora's idea was to get to Jacob and actually kill the bastard this time, rather than all of that bullshit with faulty Boltoks and doubles and whatever else Jacob used to imitate immortality. The man tried to take her through town in the stealthiest way he could, in which on the time she made sure she could get past her bindings, weakening them. Only on the way there he stopped in a house and found out Locusts had blocked off any path that could lead to the mansion where she is to be dropped off. Instead, thanks to Locusts she presumed, he is going to drop her off elsewhere. At that moment Mora broke free of her hand bindings and took his weapon, killing him. She cut herself free and then stepped out, calling over Locusts who recognized her once they got a real look at her.

She had also gotten a look at Locusts and it was awful. They were not like the New Nexus Locusts who had gone without leadership, but had still maintained a majority of their intelligence and sentience. These Locusts...they had physically devolved to be a bit more savage, bearing a higher muscle mass, sharper teeth, lowered intelligence, and sharper claws. Some of the Therons, the once most intelligent Locusts had abandoned their Torque Bows and guns in general to try and brutally cut and maul enemies with their best of abilities, hiding beneath their sun beached robes the savage deprived husk of a creature they once were. Mora was crying a little even at this disappointment when a Theron arrived without a helmet. She remembered when the Therons were RAAM's pride, he had risen from their ranks to general of the army. Nonetheless she had to ignore this, she was trying to lead them to have minimal casualties all about, hopefully not kill Osman or Gyules, but she had no idea if they were alive or dead, so for now she had to focus on Jacob. Course now also she had finished learning of their situation and of their numbers.

"I have scouted out the area a bit, but you must save all units, try and stop attacking from that side. Do we have Booshots?" A grenadier nodded except then managed to say: "Few". A Savage Boomer entered, in which she noticed right away the Boomers was lacking much of his natural fat and wore more armour. He was mostly covered, except he still appeared far more Savage, obviously not fed as well as they used to be by the lost of that natural fat. He was holding a Digger and handed it to her, bearing little snapping creatures on his belt. She looked it over and the Boomer stated: "Many".

"What does it do?"

"Creature fired." The Grenadier stated, using his hand to imitate the motion of the creature coming out and then hitting the ground.

"Dig." He walked a little bit forward, hand on the ground and then lifted it up to the height of his head.

"Boom." Locusts always bore difficulty talking, but could understand what he said, whereas she figured most humans would be annoyed. She got annoyed with herself that she thought of humans. Really had spent too much time amongst them.

" So it digs through the ground, beneath cover, and explodes?" she said. The Boomer nodded. She thought for a little bit.

"Ammunition is plenty?"

"Farmed!"

"Range obviously isn't enough if you haven't used it on these people, but if they explode though..." She began trying to think, feel like RAAM a bit. RAAM would instantly have a plan now, he would know instantly. She had to think...think...Sewers! No, not a good idea, not at all...They will turn Lambent even with gas masks. Hmm...

"I got it." she stated "If these can dig under cover...wait when do they pop out?"

"Under enemies."

"Oh, they sense it. Start taking blocks and whatever you can and put them in front of yourself as you walk down the path, give drones these weapons and possibly give another one ammunition for them to carry. They will send out as much of this things as they can to kill the humans. Slowly push it forward as much of you can, make sure to fire it left and right also at angles as humans might wait just past your opening to shoot you down until more come. Then rush in every Locust you can. Keep men outside watching in case any Marauder resistance comes elsewhere or from behind, use every bit of weaponry that is better than your own the Marauders leave behind, make sure you are armed with the best of equipment before rushing in. Oh yes and also, these humans are called the Marauders, they wear darker armour and keep them as your main target unless Lambent arrive. These men have been using old towns to lure in Locusts and then they take them out, we have an upper hand for now, but they have something planned to take us out. If we take the mansion they will rush after us and attempt to take it back, in which we can sue our superior numbers and their weaponry against them. Pass this plan onto everyone and lead the attack as soon as everyone is ready."

The Locusts nodded, a few a bit amazed with her leading. She was thinking of plans passionately, sounding just like her mother. In truth Mora was trying to act like Gyules in thinking of such a plan. The Locusts began to head out, course Mora followed though, holding the Lancer the commando had wielded. Mora then stopped and walked over to a Locust. He asked him to go to a location and retrieve her something for battle she needed.

Outside of the city though, Aiden's group was dealing with the Lambent who had formed there. Several Lambet Stalks had popped up around town and were delaying the main assault the Marauders were going to provide, their frontal assault having retreated after losing a few troops to Gyules and the Locusts presenting such a serious assault on the mansion. Course now Aiden's group was specifically in an old mostly destroyed house, under heavy fire from Lambent behind trees.

Aiden popped out and shot a Lambent who was peaking out, causing him to fall back and explode. Ilian shot down another one and then fell down. Tanner turned to her instinctively.

"Are you okay!?" he shouted.

"I just slipped a little." she said sitting up "I wasn't shot, but I am glad you care." Yet she still bore little emotion in her tone of voice. Tanner sighed and then took out his Markza.

"Fuckit, I am going to try and shoot the pods from that unstable roof." He stepped on an old barrel and jumped through a hole in the ceiling. He got behind cover in the remains of the stone wall and began trying to see if he could see the pods. Just as Tanner got barely a bit of a pod in sight, the floor caved in and he fell on top of Ilian. He was on top of her and when he adjusted himself, their faces were a bit close, both blushing. Course then the two both realized and got up, turning away and clutching their chests.

"Your heavy armour crushed my boobs." she stated, still with little emotion, but her voice wavered a bit showing sighs of pain.

"And my chest is still very sensitive. I think I messed up a few stitches..." Tanner stated in near tears once more.

"GUYS! You can worry about being in pain when the Lambent are dead. I have been shot five times and I am not complaining!"

"Really?"

"You don't look shot." Aiden turned to his other side, bearing the five shots in his sleeve, two of which were bleeding.

"Shit, you okay?"

"I will be if we live." Ilian sighed and stood up, realizing how dire the situation is. She took from her belt an incendiary grenade. Before the two could react and tell her not to she threw the grenade into a tree above the Lambent. The Lambent looked up as the tree as it burned. Branches fell off and soon it began to spread, not only in the trees, but in the underbrush. The area was lighting up quickly and spreading.

"Ilian, you damned idiot! The area is dry as hell and now its going to burn up like its hell!"

"Thats why I saved it as a last resort." Aiden face palmed and then looked over to Tanner.

"You two need marriage counseling."

"Fiance counseling, thank you. Not married yet, but that will happen if we survive the fire. If not let us take comfort we killed Lambent as we went."

"Well...where the hell do we run to now?" Tanner shouted "The fire is going to spread everywhere, the forest goes as damned far as the eye can see and we cannot leave the others behind."

"Lets just sit in here." Ilian stated and sat on the floor. Just as she sat, the wind picked up a little and spread some flames , which now had the broken roof on fire." The three got up and starting running, trying to avoid the fire that is now spreading around town and the area.

"At least with this light source no Creepers will spawn!"

Gyules and Osman though noticed the flames as they made their ways up the rooftops.

"Shit is that-"

"I don't want to watch the world catch fire." Gyules responded with "But I do enjoy the sight of those stalks burning and the Lambent trying to come out of pods on fire." Osman would have stated that this was sick, but it was pretty...who could deny that this sight is pretty? Gyules stopped looking and went prone, crawling over to the edge of the roof and watching Locusts as they marched through the street. The two had not gone around the mansion. Instead they had been traveling through the rooftops and encountered meager resistance. At most a few Snipers from the Marauders, of whom even in black armour at night, proved easy to spot and kill.

Only now they could see the Locusts setting up large blocks in the kill zones, and had been slowly pushing them forward. Every once in a while a Locust would stand on his very tip toes and fires his weapon as pointless suppression. The blocks were extremely thick and as the Mulchers bullets dug their way in, they did not pierce or break the structure, which had to be pushed by the mightiest drones, but also held up by the so it wouldn't fall over.

The two watched this a bit and got back up.

"We are on the border of the Marauder territory and the Locust territory. No rooftops we can jump to, lets just go downstairs and to the next building. Probably got some soldiers there to kill people or blocked the way, but we gotta check anyways."

"Alright man, all of this feels a little pointless though. I dunno if we can actually go through. Jacob would normally just lead us there and let us watch some sort of big show, but he has done nothing. I know he has something planned."

"We won't spring the trap." Gyules stated as he sprung the trap. He opened the door to the building to walk into a rifle to the fast. Before Gyules could lift up his rifle he was smacked in the head by the rifle. Gyules was to fight more, only for the man to slam his rifle into him and several other man began beating him. Osman attempted to run into cover, only for Jacob to step out, wielding a Vulcan. He began to wind it up to fire and then stopped. He lifted his hand up and held a little cartoon like detonator, bearing only a little antennae and a large red button. In the distance, by the woods behind Jacob with Lambent stalks up, a mortar came up. It was followed by several and soon Mortars rained into the house Osman was in, collapsing it. Osman looked up inside only to put his arms up as the ceiling fell upon him. The ceiling fell in at an angle, coming right in front of Jacob and having a small piece of wreckage out enough to poke his foot. Dust was blown out and blew back Jacob's hair once it hit the ground.

The mortars began to rain their down across the Locusts, going through the two points they are trying to enter from. A few Mortars rained elsewhere in town, but only came from that side.

"Try and set up radio contact, see what happened to the other mortar squads." Jacob stated as Gyules knocked off the guys. The men had mostly been kicking armour, but had bruised his already cut cheek a bit badly, he bore many more bruises beneath his armour and possibly some tissue damage. He ignored the pain though as he began tried to even lift the old building, see if he can get to Osman.

"FUCK!" he screamed among many other curses as he desperately tried to get it off or dig through. He had to do something, anything! Osman couldn't die, he wouldn't loose anyone, no casualties. They already lost enough during Hollow Storm, he wouldn't lose anyone else. Jacob had his men stop, enjoying the sight. A sick smile adorned his bearded face as Gyules dug through. Then they heard some Locusts shout and he called off their fun. Gyules was smacked in the head by the rifle again and yet did not pass out.

"Fuck..." Gyules shouted, falling back once more. A man grabbed him and was about to lift him off when Gyules forced him off, pulling out his knife and slamming it into the man's throat. It went in all the way, sticking out the other side. Jacob smiled a bit at that and then walked over to him.

"Let me handle this boys, need hi alive after all." said Jacob. As he stated this Gyules revved his chainsaw and slammed it down into Jacob. Jacob shouted a bit as it dug into his shoulder, but then grabbed his shoulder. He gripped his shoulder harshly as Gyules dug it in. Jacob forced his head into Gyules and caused him to fall back a bit, Lancer stuck in his flesh. Gyules fell back, wary once more and soon fell back, unable to retain consciousness. Jacob gripped his head in pain.

"Ow...aaah...fuck this is the worst part of my day. That bruise is gonna swell, its gonna look so stupid for such a long time! I shouldn't have headbutted, no one wins with a headbutt, no one ever wins with a headbutt. He then looked over to his shoulder and pulled out the Lancer."

"Let's get this stitched and prepare the shithead. Damn, I really didn't wanna do this this time. I wanted to get Mora and lure Gyules into the electric room we managed to set up."

"I know sir." said a soldier as he followed Jacob, the group walking through a path they set up to their stronghold.

"I was really excited for the electric room, but fuck do I want her alive... Oh well, he will be good bait, could always electrocute him there when she comes...think we can do that?"

"No sir I am sorry. The way all of the paths work, we do not have enough time to redirect that, I recommend your usual for hostages. Big fight with them in the room, wound the opponent, kill the hostage, then the opponent. Just don't kill her."

"Might as well..." said Jacob "Works fine for this, let's just hope she will make it. We forget to leave anymore openings to the mansion than this one."

"Well let us see, but we just gotta capture her." They kept walking, over to the mansion.

Once again jumping to other people. At least I announce when I do unlike some fanictions, so respect that. Yeah, I know you are worried for the characters, but deal with it and let us see some other problems. If you complain I will provide the bad ending planned. (The bad ending will also be forced for the stories if it turns out this had been read by too many children).

Mora fell back as the mortars rained on the Locusts behind her. Mortars were falling all about quickly and would kick up much dust. The mortars landed all about and by the time the dust cleared, many of the Locusts about her were dead or heavily wounded. Mora could not tell, she felt something heavy over her and could not see. She managed to push her way out and began to regain her senses. What was over her were the Savage Locusts. They had huddled over her when they saw the Mortars, choosing to make her unharmed at the cost of their lives.

She once again felt a deep sorrow, the Locusts she was leading were slaughtered and torn apart by the Mortars. They thought she was leading them to victory they trusted her to get the to the mansion and to kill the Marauders. She let them die, didn't consider any other positions, didn't think about those stalks and what they are attacking, she didn't survey the position enough! She let them die, she damned might as well have killed them herself. Mora couldn't help but sob, but even then felt bad. She damned killed them, yet all she could do was cry, she could only fucking cry after losing all of these lives. Mora let herself sob a bit, before she noticed a stalk catch fire. She got up and wiped away a few tears, quickly running off and into a house where she ran to the roof, a stable house rather than the one that was in the area plowed by Mortars. The woods were on fire. The fire was spreading quickly, making its way through the woods and burning the stalk. The wind was picking it up and minor branches, spreading the fire down south, yet it was still making its way north and throughout whatever woods it could.

"Fire works in odd ways..." she thought, feared it would get to town. She then walked back and noticed more Locusts coming, but now also there Marauders setting up barricades in this area. Mora ran over and began to wave her arms to the Locusts, making sure she is out of sight for the Marauders.

"Don't run in, send men out and kill the Mortar crews first!" she said "Or they will bombard the town, do not waste men on the church, we need as many Locusts as we can, we took a huge loss!" she screamed. The Locusts stopped and many of them bowed, eager to be in her presence. She didn't care, she wanted them safe.

"Do this quickly, if there are any men you can contact, something, but there are men out there! If anyone saw the ortars, lead them from the location you saw!" she shouted "Be careful for Lambent and prepared, and if you see anyone in COG armour, do not attack.." The Locusts looked at each other confused and many shouted why. One accused her of being an imposter and raised his rifle, only to have a nearby Locust punch him and yank his rifle from his hand. He then slammed it into the Locust's head. The Locust looked at hi a bit sad, both of his hand gripping the wounds. The other just gave him an angry glare as if they were a disgruntled parent or sibling.

"These humans mean us only harm if we are to harm them. They are elite and on our side in this fight. They can prove useful and have proven loyalty by not attacking the Queen herself when given multiple chances." The Locust seemed reluctant, but were going to obey their Princess, she demands, they perform. "Men are digging in past this position, they are waiting. Use your new Diggers, if you bear any, and surprise them, then take the position and prepare to take the mansion when we are able to! When we take the mansion, these humans will be defeated!" The Locusts cheered a bit and quickly got into work, several running off to take out the mortars. Mora jumped down so she could be with the man as they began to use their diggers. The Boomers stayed behind cover who wielded them and fired the fish. They went through the ground, making their way until they got to the humans setting up everything. Quickly they exploded and killed several men.

"Run run! Now!" she said signaling the Locusts and running after them. She ran forward firing suppressing fire with the Lancer she had before (Slightly damaged, still of use). The men got into the minimal cover they made and she got behind a building as other Locusts made their way. Some men were going to fire at her and so she popped out of cover, firing the Lancer killing him. She had some minor difficulty adapting to the recoil, much preferring her Hammerburst I. She rested against the wall and then poked her head out again and shot at a Marauder who was rushing in to help the people who were against the ground to hide behind the few sandbags they had placed.

"THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" a man sobbed "THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! WE ARE GONNA DIE!" He was crying, balling his eyes out. Locusts began to laugh, even Mora felt a bit better from before and began to chuckle. She then rushed forward from her building and managed to climb over the small sand bags they had set up to their right, the men on the sand begs on the left. She began to gun them down with her Lancer, shooting and killing the man. The bullets tore through their armour and flesh, leaving them bloodied and dead.

"Try not to cross from this path too much, they may have men waiting, building their cover while others watch. This shows a good sign, they are low on men since they only sent out three. Low or stingy on sending out men...hmm... I am going to go help elsewhere." She began running around and would run to the other point to enter the mansion. She was running past the Locusts who were preparing their own defenses and starting to dig in there. She then stopped and looked over to one Drone.

"Hey!" she shouted to the drone, who got startled and fell over. He quickly got up and dusted himself up. He felt a bit embarrassed and tried to stand confident to her to try and make up for it, shaking a little bit, nervous.

"Ease us please, for me." she said, giving a comforting smile to the Drone and patted him on the shoulder. He jumped a little then, a bit star struck that royalty touched him. Her hands were so soft, different than that of others. If he was physically capable of blushing he would've.

"Alert others not to waste men taking the church, I assume you killed their snipers, so just leave it at that." The Drone nodded and she gave him the comforting smile once more.

"Thank you very much." she then kept running forward, the drone eased and pranced off. He felt so honoured being one of lowest of the lowest grunts, yet being given a direct order from Princess Moragna, the spawn of the Geist Allmother/Queen. (Hehehe, original names of characters. Yes I feel like randomly disclosing originally Myrrah was to be known as Geist Allmother. Locusts were to be known as Geists also).

Mora ran off ahead and soon rushed into a group of Drones. One of them ahead of the group pointed back, stating: "Victory." The others behind him were dragging Osman. Mora gasped and ran over to him.

"OSMAN!" she screamed loudly. The drones set him down at that shout and she ran to his side. Osman was without his helmet and very bloodied, his arm was bending in a bad way and bloodied, bearing a large puncture wound in it. His other arm was fairly hurt also. He bore many bruises, his helmet gone and he was bleeding from his forehead, some blood coming from his mouth.

"Mora...you're...you're safe." he said, a bit relieved and then groaned a bit.

"Ah shit everything hurts...really gave me a scare man. Locusts picking e up, I thought I was gonna be tortured or some shit!" he said, trying to relieve himself a little with that. Mora was moreso worried and feared he might die of wounds.

"I was in the Mortar strike, building fell...Gyules was taken."

"What!? Gyules!"

"We were, we were coming for you." He began to cough a bit and then some blood came out.

"Oh that is not good, we thought you were captured, Gyules dragged me along to save you. Jacob somehow found out our spot, kicked the crap out of him and had a damned building fall on me from the Mortars. He obviously has a trap planned for you at the house." He began coughing more.

"Get him to the medical station, make sure he lives!" she commanded of the drones. They began to rush him.

"You might have to remove that arm."

"OH GOD!" shouted Osman as they took him away. Mora was more determined than ever right now, she had to save Gyules and she had to kill Jacob. Mora walked forward filled with passionate hatred, Jacob had jeopardized this family of hers all because he wanted her, and for what? Some sick fetish of fucking a Locust. She was disgusted with this fetish, disgusted with his attack of his own species, and disgusted at how much he has to fucking present everything like some sort of damned show! She was going to lead the march now as they attack his mansion. Once they would make their way back, she would make a speech she thought of, and then would lead the attack.

The End.


	27. Chapter 27 Demise Pt 2

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 27: Demise Pt 3

Mora stood above the rooftop, same as she had originally contacted them, the house wrecked by mortars but stable enough for her to stand on top and by the ledge. She was wearing her armour she received from her mother, all prim and proper as it was taken from the location she sent the Locust. She was waiting until the very last Locust arrived, now seeing and getting a good estimate of her force. They had contacted a few others and now had Reavers, Teenager Corpsers, and a smaller Brumak. Was the size of an average two story home in this area if you included the rocket launcher on back. It had been three hours since Osman was taken to the hospital and she had become angry.

"My people, my precious people, you have been forced to live in squalid conditions out in this surface. This surface that was meant to accept us once the bad humans were gone, a place that would be our new home and Lambent free, where we would prosper and truly persevere as the dominant species. Yet, we were denied this and out in the wild we have not only been assaulted by Lambent, but by dreadful humans like this man: Jacob! Jacob has been torturing Locusts and manipulating whatever areas he could so he could kill as much as he could! He thinks he can just use his humans to slaughter your kind, well, excuse my un royal talk, BUT FUCK HIM!" The Locusts cheered as they heard Mora say that, many of them surprised by such language from her.

"We are going to break into that mansion and take it for ourselves. We are going to slaughter every last human in there and show them not one bit of mercy as we rip them from limb to limb! We are going to teach them that they do not mess with the superior species and we shall take this town for ourselves!" The Locusts cheered once more, adoring the idea right now of owning this town and so they could have some nice warm homes to go to, preferring them to be in the ground, but better than before.

"Now let's go kill some humans!" she shouted and the Locusts cheered, running forward. She sighed, that was complete crap of a speech, but she always sucked with those. At least it did motivate the Locusts a fair amount. Luckily also the mortar crews were killed, but Lambent were expected to start coming soon, except currently had to deal with burning stalks and may be causing problems below or however the Lambent hide themselves and get into the stalks. Something she still doesn't understand. Didn't matter, they just had to attack for now until the Marauders pull another counter attack.

She jumped down and now they would initiate the attack. Corpsers were now digging underneath and making their way to the area where the soldiers were holding out. Reavers had an addition made to make them more useful, now bearing the gatling guns they had set up on the walls. They were ripped off and attached to the Reaver. They checked if they could fly and just had to get rid of the guns and some of the armour of the men flying them, but it worked. They held enough ammo for them to be useful for a while and were intended to take out any soldiers around the roof, also launching off their explosives. The Brumak had a little area set up for it to walk up and was coming up there now. The Brumak would fire rockets at the mansion and wreck all balconies and much of the inside, expecting for Jacob to be in his office which was in the center and more than likely not to be ruined. With that in mind the Locust infantry would rush their way in and kill whomever they could. The Brumak would stop it's assault on the mansion once they are in and would be lead into town, smashing stalks and destroying the Lambent whenever they arrive. The infantry would be on it's own when in there, but she felt as though they could easily overwhelm, but Jacob would have traps. It wouldn't be easy...course she also wanted their Maulers to go in first, use their shields to cover for Locusts and since its an indoor place, while the inside is still a highly open area, a Mauler will still be at more of an advantage.

All of the Locusts got into position to get into attack position. Locusts had their drones ready to run out and shoot the humans, the Reavers were on rooftops and ready to fly up and attack anything on the roofs, while the Brumak was about to climb up and get on what they had made for it to stand on. The area was dead silent, no gunshots or anything. Soon though, Mora nodded and a Locust blew into a horn that was set up.

Nineteen humans had taken position in the sanbags, two bearing mulchers to focus on either side, two running ammo lines to enter the Mulcher and made sure it had water to cool, four of them had flamethrowers for berserkers, while the rest lounged with rifles in hand, ready to support if too many came out. It was silent and then a Corpser leg dug through the ground. It came out and slammed into the head of the right Mulcher man. The leg pulled it's way out and swiped out furiously a few times, managing to hit the man with the ammo also before entering. Every human jumped and readied their rifles, pulling off the safeties as quickly as they could. Soon though it happened to the next Mulcher man, but his ammo man fell back and pissed himself. The humans shot at the legs, but armour about it reflected their bullets. The humans were frightened by the silence and soon it was ended. The sound of a Brumak roaring was now heard and rockets were coming out from the Brumak's rocket launcher, pouring into the front of the mansion and tearing it apart. The walls was breaking apart and falling down, the humans jumping and afraid, many those in there and against those walls, waiting for their assault were killed. Rubble rained down and would crush a two humans. Others were wounded but fine, though wouldn't be for long.

The two corpsers popped out from the ground right in the center. The few men who were there were attacked by the legs of the Corpsers and stabbed through and through by the sharp legs. They were smart though, finishing off men and then walking over. Men were pointlessly shooting at the armour of their legs as they wisely used it to defend themselves, but the flamethrowers were firing and starting to heat up the metal. A man with a flamethrower tried to be heroic, rushing forward and slamming his flamethrower between the legs of the creature, firing it at it's face. The creature began to freak out and then lifted it's legs, slamming them down into the human. It reeled back a bit and would freak out, humans focusing fire on it. The creature was gunned down by them and fell over, huddling up. The other slammed it's legs into the men who were firing, killing a few before entering the group.

The group did not hear or care about their roof cover. The Reavers were flying about and encircling the area, Locusts standing up and lowering their gatling guns, spraying it over all of their snipers. They had quickly done this and one was still circling the area, while now the other one slammed itself down and is now covering the last Corpser, firing at the surprised men best it could. Mora didn't plan this, but liked it, now shouting and leading the Locusts as they run into the area. They were all shouting their battle cries, Mora just screaming as they ran in and quickly charged the men. Soon Locusts were quickly gunning down every human in the open, killing the few men guarding this area.

"I expected for more..." thought Mora, figuring most were inside. She took a deep breath and all of the Locusts took position, Two Maulers taking front.. Mora followed behind them, eager to be on the front line and use what she has learned from watching Gyules and the rest. This rage filled her, she wanted to kill Jacob, she wanted to kill him and every damned human inside. Slaughter them, rip out their organs for consumption, just an absolute desire to kill, but not enough so to where it affects her mind. Is this how the Locusts normally feel? No...couldn't be, most Locusts weren't in a rage, they just hated them. Or was this a rage? She didn't know what to call this, these were her emotions and she just knew right now she felt angry and powerful.

The other Locusts got into position and soon the Maulers lifted their flails and slammed them into the double doors. The doors fell down and they brought up their shields instinctively. It was good to do so, they were met by troika fire right away. The fire was going off by not only them, but by every other Marauders. Mora fired her digger towards the Troika. A few other people fired their diggers and soon they heard from behind the Maulers the people screaming. The Maulers then lifted up their shields and ran forward, slamming their mace into the ground before them, just past the Troika hurting it a little. They sent aside many humans, causing most to tumble away, but killed three. Mora ran out swapping weaponry and providing cover fire for drones as they made their way in. The humans had set up barricades. The balcony bore many humans who were now pouring down their ammo and killing Locusts who ran in, while those who were in back are hiding in cover as diggers are still heading towards them, exploding and killing humans.

"GRENADES ON THE BALCONY NOW!" she screamed at the Locusts "WHATEVER EXPLOSIVES OR ANYTHING YOU CAN GET UP! FIRE IT! DESTROY THEIR COVER AND TRY AND MAKE YOUR WAY UP! THEY WILL DAMNED SLAUGHTER US DOWN HERE!" The order was shouted at the top of her lungs, proving the girl to have a larger set of lungs than one would predict. She coughed a bit though, having damaged her voice as Locusts tossed every grenade they could up there. A majority of the grenades made it up and those that didn't ended up exploding by their cover and knocking it down. The humans were clamouring to get away from there to the point of where they clogged each other and ended up causing more deaths. Soon though she saw several Locusts run up the stairs and fire their weaponry at the Marauders who were without cover. They were slaughtering them until reinforcements came. At the end of the hallway, several heavy human troops began to fire Mulchers.

In a few minutes, over fifty lives were claimed of people trying to control the balcony, now many of the Locusts who ran up having been shot down. The humans below were having a normal firefight with the Locusts, humans popping out to shoot Locusts, Locusts popping out to kill humans, mostly Locusts dying than Marauders. Mora popped out from cover and fired her Lancer into the head of a human and then into another. One of them was about to fire at her when he noticed it was Mora and gasped, going down. She looked a little confused and then realized.

She was making orders and should be the primary target, but they weren't shooting at her, even as she killed them. Mora decided to test this and climbed over cover. Course she ended up falling over onto the ground but got up, dusting herself. Gunfire was going off all about but not at her. She stood in complete danger and no one fired at her, so she had to get some info. Mora got down and made her way through cover, to a female Marauder who was laying down low. Mora made her way over to her slammed her rifle into her face. The Marauder fell over and Mora began bashing her head with the butt of the rifle until she was barely conscious, mostly just taking out her anger. After that she pulled out her knife and stabbed it into the girl's hand, many times, making sure to do so until she left the hand a bloody stump. She then pulled her forward with the knife forcing her hand into the floor.

"Why is no one shooting me!?"

"I-I don't know!"

"You know! Tell me, fucking tell me!" she shouted and slammed the girl's head into the floor a few times. The girl was sobbing, tears running down her face in thick streams.

"I...I...Jacob said he would remove my organs if I shot you!"

"WHY!?"

"FOR HIS PLAN! He wants you for something, he just keeps calling it his plan, I don't know nothing else, don't kill me!"

"What about the other Marauders, is this it!?"

"There are more in back and at our base, its a COG base it's-"

"I know where it is, why aren't they here!"  
>"They are reinforcements and are supposed to come when we weakened you!"<p>

"You are very well informed. Anything else?"

"They are a much stronger force and equipped with heavy weaponry, they are probably on their way..."

"Fuck..."

"Can I live now?" Mora looked her over and then at her hand.

"That is your firing hand."

"I can...I can use my other! I promise! Of course I can, I can do it just as well!"

"Not really, you are not worthy to be of use to me." Mora took out her boltok and fired into her head. She then looked up and noticed the balcony still had two heavies, unable to fire at the ground troops thanks to the Locusts int eh doorways. Sadly they couldn't use diggers and now these humans were covered in very heavy armour. They could hardly shoot through it, seemed like they were human silverbacks.

"I shouldn't of had that grenade call..." thought Mora. She stood up though and rushed for the stairs. She quickly made her way to the right balcony and ran out over to the heavy. He stopped firing and she began running at him. Mora jumped at the heavy slamming her body into him.

It failed miserably and she fell to the ground, entire body aching from hitting the armour. The man began to laugh and picked her up her hair, holding her up high.

"We won't kill you little one, we just need you though!" he laughed in a deep Gorasni accent. Course as he didn't expect the Locusts did the same thing, running at him and slamming into him. First one hit in the gut holding him tightly and then a Savage Grenadier jumped onto the top of him and began to hit it's face. The man dropped her and began to struggle, the other watching in shock, but then Locusts began to do the same to him. He prepared his Mulchers and began to gun down a few, wounding others, but one got onto him, a wounded Locust who was bleeding from his gut. He ignored the pain as he pulled aside the Mulcher and attempted to rip off his helmet. Instead his hands were gripping the human's and he was being pushed back. Other Locusts came to support him. Mora fell down and the humans soon were being ripped out of their armour and being torn from bit to bit.

Their screams of terror filled the room as the remaining Marauders ran off in terror, trying to support another position. The screams soon ended and Mora pulled aside the Locusts on her side.

"I got some information, this is not the main assault, we have every Locust in the area and now we have the human weaponry, arm every person you can, get their mortars you gathered in the hands of those who can use them and we need your men to attack The main assault is on it's way with mortars and heavy weapons. I need your men to use their mortars and then attack. Slaughter the force, kill them all and leave no one alive if you can do so without risking Locust life. I will not be joining you. I have to kill Jacob and it's a order, you do not worry for me. An order for you all." The Locust was reluctant, but nodded. He defied his order and worried for her, but quickly began to shout and tell everyone. Soon the Locusts were rushing out of the room and all that was left in this room was Mora.

She was alone, completely alone, but had to prove herself. All this time she had been weak girl, the captive, the damsel, the one who runs and hides when a fight occurs and is never that strong. Who couldn't load a fucking sawed-off shotgun. She is the spawn of the strongest being and the greatest leader, she was proving her leadership, now she has to prove her strength.

Mora sighed and reloaded all of her weapons, now rushing forward. It was just like before when she ran through to try and save Omega, but this was it. This was that final fight with the Marauders, they will now end. She ran ahead on the balcony, same balcony as before, Lancer in her arms and safety off. She kicked open the door harshly, firing her rifle as she ran at the Marauders who had set up cover. She jumped onto the cover and fired her Lancer into the three men killing them, before rushing forward at one at the end of the hallway, revving the Lancer and forcing it onto his neck. The man screamed until it dug deep enough and just became a gurgle. She pulled it out, blood adorning her face as she rushed forward once more, shooting at everyone she could. She reloaded as she ran, realizing she had depleted the clip. Mora ran past the corner and just ran past the Marauders now, making her way into Jacob's office. She kicked the door.

"FUCKING LET HIM GO!" she screamed before actually observing. The office was the same as before, but no one was in here. She looked over a bit and then closed the door, looking to see if Jacob hid by the wall. She looked about the room and stepped forward. Mora stepped onto a carpet and then it began to fall in. She screamed as she began to fall on the carpet, heading down a square hole. She fell down until she entered darkness. She looked about in the dark, wishing she had adapted to the dark, sadly the hollow wasn't as dark as one expected thanks to many fauna having well lit plants. Course that was the least of her worries, she was in fear of what would occur...and her legs hurt a bit from the fall.

A light came on, shining brightly upon her. She had to shield her eyes with her hand, still unaware, but soon began to adapt and look about. Mora looked over to see many Marauders in the room with guns aimed at her, including Jacob who stood right before her, holding his Vulcan with one hand, aiming it at her.. She looked around at them.

"K, you got me..." she said "Not much I can do here, is this all you wanted to show me?"

"Meh, I originally had something more intricate that involved a bear trap, two midgets, and a fairy, but I couldn't stable the fairy's wings on...and then I realized it was a hallucination...plus many other plans, but the damned Lambent killed my mortar crews and you ruined my plan. Which was a simple plan and I never actually expected for someone to get them past it. You saw it with the whole fuckin guys with Mulchers and a kill zone. Usually your species is so fucking stupid they run at those points and get slaughtered and once their numbers are down the bulk of my forces comes over and kill them, while they have taken care of the Stranded and m men get the joy of killing the Locusts. I we get impatient or are low on ammo we use our mortars to clear out large groups or any Brumaks. Except now you got diggers and usually even Corpsers aren't a problem, but fuck, somehow your Corpsers actually killed quite a few guys and made a dent...I am quite proud of you but moreso pissed at you for being a bitch and killing my men."

"My Locusts are out to take out your reinforcements as well, they will be erupting in an all out fight and shall have the upper hand of surprise. Victory will be their's."

"Well fuck a didly do, I don't give two shits because I can get more people and have all the men I need in this mansion for my plan. Now stand the fuck up. I knew you would come if Gyules was here, so now I gotta get rid of that problem now that I got ya." He stepped aside to reveal a bloodied Gyules on the ground. His hands were tied behind his back and his body was beaten and bruised. He was forced onto his knees shirtless, blood pouring into his pants and on the ground from fresh wounds, on his body. He looked up at her, eyes showing signs of being weary, cheek swollen with a large bruise.

"Mora..." he muttered.

"Kill the fuck, will ya? I am not going to make a false threat of killing you, but I will do something bad." He stated walking over to her. He ripped the Digger from her back and then the Lancer as Mora stood there, shocked at how hurt he had gotten. Course then he pulled out her boltok and empty the bullets onto the ground except for one, which he put into the pistol. Jacob handed it to her and threw her at Gyules. She fell over, but then stood up, looking over to him.

"You...really expect me to kill him?"

"Yup."

"You are...an idiot." she said and put the gun to her own head.

"You need me, correct? If you need me, then I am the hostage to myself! So yeah, don't kill him or I go."

"You won't do it, just shoot him!" Jacob stated "There goes my hopes of a dramatic kill. Bruised him up just for this!" She undid the safety and smiled.

"My finger gets itchy now and your plan is ruined. Wanna shoot him and find out, or want to-" Jacob took out his snub pistol quickly and shot the pistol out of her hand. She looked over to it to find it damaged, chamber had been shot out. Jacob ignored his men and was about to shoot Gyules when she got pissed. Mora ran at him and punched Jacob. Whereas normally this would not hurt too much, Jacob fell back and gripped his now swollen face. Mora grabbed the head of the Marauder nearest to her. The man was about to try and hit her, but she grabbed his fist, forcing it back. The man began to scream as Mora forced his arm down and then bit down on his throat. She ripped out his vein and blood began to spurt all about, the men all looking at her like she was crazy, even Gyules.

"You will not hurt him!" she shouted and grabbed the man to her left and forced him to the ground. She slammed her boot onto his head and broke his skull in.

"Ah shit it's her time of the month! TRY AND RESTRAIN HER! !" shouted Jacob pushing a man forward. Only four men remained and now the one pushed forward had his head gripped. She gripped it and got behind him, holding him up like a shield though the man was taller. Mora forced him onto the ground and then twisted his head, snapping his neck. A man ran at her with a knife and she jumped back while another tried to grab her arms. She stepped forward and nearly into the guy with the knife, grabbing his arm and stretching it, slamming her hand into his elbow and breaking his arm. The man shouted in pain only to have his knife stolen and she slammed it into his throat, before ripping it out and forced it into the mouth of the man who had tried to grab her. It went through the back of his mouth and his spinal cord, severing it and killing him.

The last two men cowered in fear and she merely took the pistol from that man, firing it into the head of the two men and killed them.

"You humans are fucking weak!" she shouted and walked over to Jacob, who was unphased.

"Finally got that Locust strength huh? Really want to protect this guy, really do I bet!" he said "Well, how about we fight then, without guns. I wanna see if I can outdo those fucks, which I should! I mean, I am immortal after all. I am damned Rasputin." Jacob stated, very proud. He stood up with his back erect and hands on his hips, feeling confident. Course only then to have Mora grab his hand and start twisting his fingers back. Jacob began to shout in pain as she forced them back until they broke. She then grabbed his head and lifted her knee, forcing it into her knee. He fell back a bit from that and cursed.

"Oh you fuck face, I am going to-" She slammed her palm into his face and broke his nose.

"Shit that could've killed me! STOP COPYING MOVIES! Fine, you played dirty, I will play dirty!" Jacob pulled out his knife and then swung it at Mora a few times. She jumped back and yet he still slashed across her gut. It stung terribly and he tore the precious armour. He swung a few more times, slashing her a bit as she narrowly dodged him. The wounds stung so and then Jacob ducked and swung his leg, tripping her. Jacob smiled and then got down on top of her. She tried to push him off of her, but he was able to remain past her Locust strength. He smiled and then took the knife and attempted to stab her, but she grabbed his arms and was holding it past. The two held a stalemate in power before she threw his arm aside and he sliced across her breast a bit. Jacob swung up at her again, forming a small X across that cut and onto her body.

"Sucks to ruin that perfect body, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." She said nothing and then ran at him and uppercutted him, causing Jacob to fall back, but only to be caught by Mora. Mora held his throat in her hands and was now strangling him.

"I am going to silence that fat mouth of yours!"

"Fuck...fuck..." Jacob croaked as she tightened her hands, restricting air from his passage. He fell down to his knees and she lowered. Mora kept strangling and Jacob tried hitting her and hitting her. He kept it up and then went drastic. He seemed a bit angry and then slammed the knife into her right eye. Mora yelled loudly and fell back. She screamed as this hurt so bad, gripping her head.

"Sorry about that bitch...but you would look sexy with an eye patch and I need to punish you for defying me." he stated "I got a thing for one eyed girls anyways." She cursed and began trying to take the knife out. It hurt so much, but she braced herself and now ripped the knife out, only to take her eye with it. She screamed at the top of her lungs in the utmost pain, enough so she fell to the ground. Pure adrenaline of the fight kept her from going into shock as she could see her eye was on the knife, her damned eye was on the knife! Jacob walked over to one of his fallen men and took his knife. He grabbed Mora by her throat, forcing her into the wall and smiled.

"I am going to carve you bitch, going to cut you up till you got quite a few sexy scars!" he said, stabbing his knife lightly into the bottom of her jaw. He smiled and forced it up her face leaving a large scar and then slamming her into the wall leaving a bruise. It hurt horribly and she shut her eye and empty socket. Jacob slammed her aside and laughed at his own victory, now walking over to Gyules with the knife

"Well, guess I am gonna kill him now. I will see if I can get you a new eye." he stated, not expecting her to get up. She quickly stood up though to his surprise and forced the knife into his gut, grazing Gyules a little with it but not caring for that. The eye was pushed to the end of it as the knife was in his gut. Jacob's eyes went wide and blood poured from his mouth. She smiled, blood pouring from her eye wound like it was a little blood waterfall.

"Fuck you Jacob." she said "You are the biggest loser I have ever seen. You want to feel like you are something, like you are a big shot and a prophet, you want to be something of fictional proportion, but guess what..." She leaned in close to him and whispered: "You're nothing." Jacob was stabbed several more times in the gut and then she let go. Jacob fell back, hands gripping his gut. She had stabbed through his vest and armour, so now he was bleeding his own blood. His eyes were wide as he peered at his blood soaked hands. Bloody with his own blood, he just couldn't believe it. This bitch...this fucking whore did it. He looked her in the eye, blood trickling from his mouth as he staggered. His eyes rolled into his head and Jacob collapsed to the ground, dead.

Mora was panting and bleeding from her many cuts, though now that her adrenaline ended, shit started. She began to enter shock from the pain of losing her eye and the blood coming from it, the already pale girl appearing far more pale. She coughed a little and then fell back, passing out, leaving Gyules the only conscious one, of whom, even while hurt, was dreadfully annoyed. He began trying to grab the knife, to cut himself free. He bore difficulty doing so, but was going to take her to safety and get her medical treatment. She could calm down and stop using this hidden Locust Strength of sorts...the madness was over and they had triumphed.

The End


	28. Chapter 28 To the Beach

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 28: To the Beach!

Mora awoke with a gasp, rising out of bed quickly. Mora then looked about to realize she is in the hospital and thought something was blocking her vision. She tried to brush it away, a bit infuriated when she felt nothing. She tried to swipe something away and then felt a cloth. A cloth was over her eye. Then she remembered, she remembered it all quickly. Jacob, the bastard left her a departing wound, she has lost her left eye. She felt a it saddened about that and then looked down to realize she was topless, bandages wrapped around the slices on her gut, a single large patch placed on that X wound she had received on her breast. She then quickly covered herself.

"Only you and I here." Mora jumped at the sound of the voice, almost getting a foot off of the bed, course then just turned to Osman sitting on the bed next to her in his same outfit he wore beneath the armour.

"If there is anyone you don't need to hide yourself its myself." he stated humorously. Mora smiled at him, but then went silent as she observed. He was in his underwear and had many bandages as well over his many cuts, though not as many as there were cuts. His arm though was cut off at the forearm, it was a stub. They did have to amputate his arm...she joked about it but felt like it was-

"My arm had to be removed, and did they cut out your tongue girl? Say something for pete's sake, you are worrying me!"

"Sorry! Just...a lot on my mind is all. That whole event and fight. I am contemplating on everything. I had-"

"Gyules told me all about it. You found your Locust strength, when you were in that state of mind running on adrenaline, your body acted much stronger and you just did what you could to save not only Gyules, but every life."

"Y-yeah...that was all...wait what about the Locusts? Are they okay! And everyone else? Aiden, Ilian, Tanner, Gyules has to be okay since you said so...but how are they!? She got eager quickly as she asked, dying for answers. She got out a bit from the covers, but then realized also she was without pants, quickly pulling herself back into bed and blushing. Osman laughed, finding this a bit cute.

"The Marauders were destroyed by the remaining Locusts, but sadly thanks to something you couldn't predict they lost many men. The Marauders had the Hammer of Dawn with them, they rained it down onto many of them, but the Locusts defeated them. The Lambent then began breaking through and at this time the Locusts were returning to town and the Stranded were coming out, thinking it's over. The two sides ended up fighting the Lambent and now much more of town is destroyed, but the two sides defeated them with the help of the rest of Omega returning to town to fight. The two sides were both weakened by the Lambent and thanks to us and you ordering them not to attack us, we made a negotiation. The Locusts are taking the Marauder's weapons, bodies, and some meager supplies, while the Stranded get their gattling guns back, keep the armour, and get to raid the former Marauder bases of resources and weaponry. The Locusts also get any POWs the Stranded took."

"Oh good...that...that is highly better than I anticipated. I expected for all of the Stranded to die really." she laughed a little, completely relieved.

"Both sides are going to have a few days of peace right now."

"Oh great, umm...one more question. I understand they needed to treat my wounds, but where is my armour?" she asked.

"Oh we got someone fixing it up from those cuts. We-"

'Yeah I see on the nightstand there is something." Mora looked over to the nightstand to her right, where a white tank top, military pants, and black underwear was placed neatly for her.

"Can you turn away for a bit?" Osman nodded and turned around, sitting on the opposite side of the bed. Mora got up and got dressed, getting the loose tank top on herself. She shouted that he could look again, searching for a mirror. She walked forward a bit, except then hit the side of a bed with her leg, falling over in an overly dramatic fashion. She stumbled forward and barely maintained balance by waving her arms.

"I am fine, I am fine! Just gotta get used to this." Osman laughed a little and got up. He grunted a little in pain, his legs still fairly sore, but stim gas had fixed much of his wounds. He walked over to her and began to guide her best he could, arm around her. She smiled a bit looking over, Osman keeping her away from things and bringing her to a mirror at the end of the room. She began to observe her face for the first time.

Mora had one long white bandage along the cut Jacob had performed on her face had a white bandage running up and over it. Her missing left eye had a black eyepatch right over it, the string holding it onto her head was at an angle so that it would be mostly hidden in her hair, also being very thin. She felt it a bit and then, just so she could see, she lifted up the eyepatch and looked at the socket.

She sighed, feeling extreme sorrow for herself. Mora felt selfish feeling bad for herself, she was supposed to think for everyone and protect them, but soon tears came from her eye. She would have to live the rest of her life like this, unable to see everything and dealing with an eye patch. Caring for that socket and whatnot. Osman turned her about and forced her into him, hugging her tightly. Mora let her emotions flow, sobbing into him.

"It'll be alright, you just need to get used to it. It might be tough living with one eye, it will seem like you are missing out on things, seem like hell, but we are going to help you. You will adapt and you will survive, you are the dominant species after all." She said nothing and cried into him for a while but then stopped. Osman leaned down a bit and put his hand on her shoulders.

"It will be alright, now come on, let's go meet up with Gyules." Mora nodded a little and he guided her out, acting as her missing eye.

"This just feels...I dunno...I feel awful for feeling bad about my eye but it's..."

"You don't need to explain Mora, it sucks to lose a piece of yourself. It's dreadful to realize you will never do things the same that you had always taken for granted. I took some fair time getting adjusted to this amputation while you were out, but of course I am going to get a functional fake arm. Can't feel anything, hurts to get on, but I can use it. We can't get you a new functional eye." Mora smiled and was glad he was there to comfort her. She smiled a bit as the two made their way outside, to see many Locusts and humans were all about. The Locusts started to cheer once they saw Mora, many of them had been waiting for her to come out, hoping she is okay. Mora smiled and stepped from Osman.

"I am okay everyone! No one needed to worry!" Many of them cheered more, but seemed to still be worry with the loss of her eye. She turned around and noticed the guys were telling stories, sitting on some boxes. Gyules turned over to her and the rest of them followed, smiling.

"Get your ass over here!' shouted Tanner "Gyules is making up shit and I need you to tell us he is wrong." Mora turned around to them and walked over happily, managing not to hit anyone and sit down on a box next to Gyules.

"Shit Mora, is your eye-" Mora lifted up the eyepatch to show the empty socket.

"Yeah it's gone and whatever Gyuls told you is true. I entered some sort of rage shit. Dunno what it was, but I felt stronger, more powerful, even when fighting! It was...well...it felt awesome until I got the damned knife in my eye." Mora looked over to Gyules to see his cheek had stopped swelling, but still bore a bruise. He was leaning over a bit and seemed relatively fine, even though before he had been beaten so badly. He was hiding about his injuries, trying to act tougher and not seem weak, this was obvious to her.

"At least she wasn't as destructive as her." Tanner openly stated, pointing to Ilian with his thumb. Ilian turned to him and was to say something, yet could not deny this and turned back to the rest.

"I cannot deny...I did cause much more destruction. I used a flame grenade and now much of the forest burnt down, including many of Jacob's men and the Lambent. On a whole scale though if you consider not her personal actions, but leading of the Locusts, she has caused the most destruction and death here. Only that death will help life in the future as Jacob's men will stop destroying Stranded civilizations for supplies, and slaughtering Locusts in the area."

"He kept mentioning this plan though, his troops did as well." Mora pointed out "They wouldn't shoot me for this, I am really curious what it was." Gyules reached into his pocket and pulled out a disc.

"This is the plan. Jacob actually got worried for his life when your Locusts attacked, so he put it in my pocket so it would get out. Claimed he had something big on there that someone needs to know. We just don't have anything we can use it on. My thought was that we travel to the coast and the land now available from the ocean receding, more than likely some COG ships have washed up. Should have a computer or some sort of shit that can read this disc."

"Plus we could probably have some fun time at the beach." Aiden pointed out "As long as we don't run into Lambent or Locusts it can be like a vacation."

"Oh lovely, I can finally see the ocean!" Mora exclaimed happily "It sounds beautiful, to see just water going on and on forever. Never had that in the hollow, closest thing was the imulsion lake beneath Nexus."

"This sounds perfect." said Osman "Can't wait for us to go." While Osman was standing, Charlie walked over and then grabbed his stub, forcing onto it a robotic arm. Charlie quickly strapped leather sticking out from it around his arm, making sure it was tight and secure to his arm, then he opened up a panel on the hand and put his tweezers in, hooking up wires and various other mechanics to Osman's flesh, forcing him to shout in pain. Various things were forced into his arm and blood was coming from the stub. It took only a few minutes and then Charlie closed the panel. Osman moved the arm and was able to move it up and down. He moved the hand and wrist, twirling it about, moving the fingers and hand. He had a few tears welled up in his eyes.

"There, best fake arm we can get around here. Snagged it off a dead guy. Now just try and keep it safe, it is made of stainless steel so you can stay in the rain, but remove it if you are swimming. Wait a few weeks before removing it the first time and then your body will just grow around what is in it I think and you will be able to hook it back up without as much pain. Yada yada yada, and don't masturbate with it. Just...don't, don't pleasure anyone with that hand, you hear me?" The people of Omega, besides Ilian and Osman, snickered at that.

"Yes...I hear you...I wasn't planning to do-"

"I don't wanna hear any excuses, just don't do that for the sake of their genitalia!"

"Alright Osman, you can't give Tanner anymore handjobs with that hand. Try the other one." Gyules teased. Ilian grabbed Tanner by his throat, starting to strangle him.

"You have been doing what with him!?" Tanner was about to say something, but she tightened her grip. Everyone began to panic, stating it was a joke and Ilian let go. Tanner coughed a bit and began to breath in as much air as he could.

"I am being abused."

"We know. I am very happy though you are all alive." said Mora "I was very worried something would happen, but what happened to Borusc?" Mora commented.

"Oh he died." Ilian stated "He was one of the snipers on the roof of the church and all of those men were killed. H e thought I had entered inside. In truth he only protected me though because I paid him."

"Damn, I thought it was going to be some sort of mega intricate long backstory." Osman pointed out.

"I was thinking it was a relationship thing, like he had a crush on you or some bullshit." Gyules stated "Or siblings, he was a bit well...emotionless like yourself." Whereas they expected Tanner to get hurt for what Gyules stated, instead Ilian seemed to understand.

"I can see that, we did look a tad bit similar as well. Nonetheless, that is not the case. It was mere payment for protection originally given at Halvo Bay. He was in jail and broke out during the fighting so I offered him something if he would watch over me as I saw him take out a group of Karn Locusts with his Markza."

"Cool story bro, tell it again." Tanner responded, not caring too much. Ilian started to retell it, but Tanner just stopped her stating: "No, don't really."

"We need to start packing then now, might as well leave as soon as possible, I don't wanna be here for repairing the place." Gyules stated. The guys got up, except Ilian glared to Gyules and Mora.

"You two are too hurt. I think Osman is too."

"I only lost an arm." said Osman.

"Good, you can go, Gyules, stop shrugging off your bruises, swallow your pride, go spend some time with Mora."

"Rather-"

"Do it." she said holding up a tazer. Gyules was about to say something else, only for her to aim it at his crotch. He instantly covered it with his hands. "Fine, fine!" Ilian nodded and followed the others.

"Alright guess I am stuck with you." said Gyules.

"Oh don't say it like that. It sounds like a burden, and right now you owe me! You were the damsel in distress."

"A damsel is female and I-"

"You were in distress and I saved you! You need to thank me!" she teased. Gyules looked over to her, a bit annoyed. She stood up, expecting for him to thank her.

"Thank you." he said, quickly and silently, looking away.

"Hmm...what was that?"

"Thank you..." he said, a little louder, getting angry.

"I can't hear you!"

"Thank you!" he said louder "Thank you very much, you saved my life, get off my back about it!" She smiled in victory.

"Was that so hard? You need to let go of your pride and relax! As I have said before, you are going to kill yourself with stress! Then I will have become a cyclops for nothing." He groaned a bit, feeling bad about that. He put his hand to his head, leaning back a bit and then regained his previous posture only to stand up. Gyules cracked his neck a bit and looked over to her.

"Let's...walk around then. I sort of need to know if that strength thing is permanent and we are gonna just have to deal with it forever, or what is it?"

"Oh...I can hardly explain that myself! It just came naturally. I felt this extreme adrenaline running through me, this...this rage." she commented as she walked with him "I was just so angry. I wanted to kill Jacob, I wanted to stop him from harassing me, from killing my people and letting it so we think we win and then they all die, and to prevent him from killing you. He wanted me, you didn't need to suffer, or even worse to die from him. You try and act tough, but you are an incredibly nice human, all of you are!" Mora was blushing a fair amount after this confession. Gyules blushed a little too, feeling a little awkward as he always did in such situations.

"Thanks, you really did save my ass. You did do something amazing as well. While the peace is shakey, most of these Stranded are eager to shoot the Locusts, there is a temporary truce here. Something I personally never thought I would see between humans and Locusts in this scale." Though Gyules didn't wanna mention that this is only in place because both sides are drastically hurt and do not have the means to fight each other and have a decent amount of survivors. He would try and make her feel good about herself.

"I didn't really do any of this though. I just told them not to attack you. They actually followed orders and then listened to you guys when you weren't hostile, it was all them."

"And you lead them to say that and defied what your mother said about humans. You actually were willing to listen to us and make friends with the rival species. Defied what everyone said among the Locusts, well other than RAAM, but he never encouraged you to make friends."

"I am glad you did listen to my stories about RAAM, but I was eager to meet humans! I knew you were sentient and spoke better than Locusts. I wanted to see what you were like, I was interested! I had read some of Karn's books on your psychology which got me eager...but I never actually understood them because I was young. Makes me sad now to think his library is gone."

"Karn had a library?"

"Karn had built the first and only Locust Library in Nexus, consisting mostly of scrolls Kantus had written and would use. Myrrah would often write down about the origin of Locusts...well, the origin that she had them believe rather than the scientific origin. Other Locusts would write out stories of certain things they had to deal with or maps of tunnels they had been exploring with information about the creatures, resources, hazards, and usually would mark about how tough it is to traverse. Karn kept many books about humans in his own section, which talked of human psychology and older cultures of humanity. He would add books about Locust psychology he thought about and on how to care for creatures. Karn though wasn't allowed many beasts under his command."

"Interesting. Sounds like it would be difficult though for everyone to get the information if it's only in Nexus though. Course I only know of the one tunnel leading from it to a worm route to the surface..."

"Oh we would send information out on request to various centers. People waited a few days and they would usually receive it unless it was elsewhere. Everything was kept track of in the building, where it went and where it would go to or if it would return. It was an amazing system, I really wish I got to meet Karn. He was really an intellectual, may not be the perfect strategist or at training his troops, but he was still known as a wonderful Locust. Course he also lead one of our biggest battles of the war at Halvo Bay...More Locusts died there than at any other battle."

"More humans died there also. It was truly bloody. Tanner or Ilian can always tell you details, should ask them for it. I had just heard of it and I know it was a changing point for both sides. COG stopped deploying the Onyx Guard and ended up spending much more time to retrain them. The leader of the COG forces Erza was known as the hero of the battle by every higher up COG member, but by grunts, he is known as one of the worst Generals there will ever be."

"What made him so bad? If he was so bad, how did he beat Karn?"

"Kilo Squad. Kilo Squad acted as some sort of super squad, managing to fight their way through the Locusts, clearing points. According to their reports I read, they didn't encounter many Reavers and never had to deal with a Brumak, Seeder or Nemacyst. They had to deal with poorly trained Therons, Maulers, and Kantus. The majority of the fight was just the trouble was the massive amount of troops. They had troubles, but amidst all the casualties they took out Karn."

"Oh wow, that is the one thing that fascinates me about humans. You can excel so much and be super soldiers! Locusts scarcely get that and usually they become leaders. I wish we could have our men become like that Kilo, or like Delta, maybe even like Omega."

"Hey, we may not be the best, but we sure as hell are good enough." Gyules commented, smiling a little. He had faith his squad could be as good as Delta and was certainly better than Kilo, they just weren't assigned that position that kills as much as the rest. Or so he wanted to believe as an excuse.

"You guys killed Skorge and if you were all together I bet you could have killed Jacob and no one would be hurt."

"I had to get Tanner out, he still has chest pains. Course also note you were supposed to go with them, then I would have just gotten Osman and we would have run the shit out of there."

"Wrong call on your part."

"Fine, next time we encounter someone opposing us, I will have us rush into the battle, guns blazing."

"And then we will be victorious." she teased. Gyules laughed a little to ease himself, but did feel like he could have done something different to help. Really wished he had Jacob killed from the start or something. Too late now though.

"Are you sure though you can fight with one eye?"

"I can handle it. Maybe need you guys to watch my blind side."

"Will do." Gyules smirked. The two wandered about town a bit, talking on the situation before coming to the APC in the noon. There they said their goodbyes and would quickly get the hell out of town. Yeah...rushed ending.

The End.


	29. Chapter 29 Pit Stop

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 29: Pit Stop

Omega squad drove for a few days in the APC, trying to go as far as they could. When nightfall came and they would get sleepy, they swapped drivers, that driver just trying to head to the coast. There was even a time where they let Mora drive the APC. Now the right light is out and there is damage to the bumper. Currently it was nightfall though, Aiden is driving the APC, the others are crashed in back. He is doing his best to stay up, his will beating his desire to sleep. He looked back to them for a bit, noticing Mora fell asleep with her head on Gyules' shoulder. Aiden looked back to the ground and smiled to see those two.

He looked back to the road and then realized he was going off of it. Aiden made a sharp turn getting himself back on the road, but ended up throwing everyone aside into the left of the vehicle, quite harshly. They all groaned from this, waking up in pain now. A few of the men cursed and Ilian opened her eyes, her expression remaining phlegmatic as usual.

"Aiden! Are you drunk or something!? What was that!?' Gyules complained. He got up a bit and gripped his body. Mora had fallen into him, which cushioned the blow for her, but was only worse for his bruises and soft tissue, even forming a few more. He groaned a bit and was fairly certain he was bleeding inside of him from her hitting those wounds. He declared it to himself that he would have to wear armour all the time now.

"I apologize, I am not the best driver." Aiden stated. Just as Aiden stated this, the worst came to be. As Aiden drove a stalk bursted through the ground, hitting the bottom of the APC and receding down a little, throwing the Armadillo into the air and causing everyone in back to hit the ceiling, and then the floor or each other. Tanner fell right next to Ilian and she cursed in her head, wishing he fell a little closer, could have helped her seduce him. Aiden floored it forward as the stalk came up behind them.

A large stalk had sprouted in the road ahead, one forming behind them and already spewing Lambent. Aiden was now throwing the car to get away from a stalk that formed. He ended up turning so harshly the vehicle ended up falling over on it's side and hit a rock, causing it to spin in the air as it went flying and crashed into a tree, knocking it down and landing on it's side. Omega was groaning, their bodies beaten up and in harsh pain. Everyone groaned beside Aiden, who undid his seat belt only to fall over to the passenger seat beside him.

"Everybody out! Quickly Gotta kill those Lambent before they dig in!" shouted Gyules. He ran to the back door and undid it, forcing it open. A Drudge was already against the door and was quickly met with a Gnasher blast to the face. It fell back a bit and Gyules fired off two more, knocking the creature back and it exploded away from them. Some imulsion landed on him and on his face. He wiped it off with his arm and charged forward. The Lambent were taking cover behind the stalk as now as more and more Lambent came. Osman had adjusted his new arm and ran out now, standing without cover in the back of the APC, shooting a pod and wrecking it, a Lambent corpse falling out of the destroyed pod and then exploding. He shot at the top one of the stalk that was barely visible before a Lambent hiding behind the Stalk fired into him. Osman performed the wilhelm scream perfectly as he fell back into the APC and right onto Aiden.

"Oh, thank goodness I sleep in armour." he said to himself and looked over to Aiden. "Hey sexy." Aiden laughed a little as he climbed out. By the time Aiden got out, Mora, Tanner, and Ilian were out, leaving those two. The two looked annoyed and rushed forward. Aiden and Osman roadie ran to the rocks they hit, getting behind cover there and able to flank some of the Lambent. Four pods remained between the two stalks, but soon it became three as Aiden fired his Boomshot into the top pod of the wounded stalk. The stalk quickly faded into a gray dead state and soon. A few of the Lambent were going through the woods and now were flanking, the other four not behind the rock, gunfire at them. They quickly swapped sides of the tree they were on, Mora blindfired with her Hammerburst and a Lambent screamed and exploded. "

"I didn't expect that to work!" she said and then yelped as a Ilian threw a frag grenade and it went right past her, nearly hitting her in the face. It caught a bit of her hair, which was returning to it's long state at a surprising rate and would be normal soon in a few days. The Lambent attempted to run, only for the explosion to kill them and rain down nails. The nails went through the trees and nearly hit some of Omega.

"Fucking nails!?" shouted Tanner.

"I add them to my grenade. Makes them more deadly." she said and showed him one.

"You aren't doing that anymore!"

"Why-"

"Because I said so!" The two looked at each for some time and while they did so, Mora and Gyules were killed Lambent who popped their heads. They didn't bring many Drudges with them beside the one it seemed. As that was done, Aiden and Osman took out the pods on the stalk, gunning down any Lambent who came out, quickly putting it out of commission.

It really did not take too much longer until they finished them, this being a minor skirmish that wouldn't have needed to be written, if it weren't for the damage done to the vehicle. Omega eased up and relaxed a bit after the fight, only for Osman to look to the vehicle and instantly recognized a problem. He tore off his helmet and ran over to the vehicle.

"No no no no no no no! Ah shit, no! This really had to happen!?"

"What?" Gyules stated walking over. The group walked over to them, Aiden staying on lookout alongside Ilian in case more Lambent show their ugly or beautiful (depends on your opinion) faces.

"Stalk tore through the bottom of it. A few parts have fallen out, the tank is practically empty and pierced, and I would need to investigate a bit more, but a lot of shit is wrecked."

"How did that happen?" Tanner asked, a bit confused.

"The stalks have that pointy sharp end for burrowing through the ground. Burrowed through part of our APC." said Osman and then ran around inside the APC. He came out with their map and opened it.

"An Imulsion station is five miles ahead." Just as Osman said that they all groaned.

"I can't do it, I am missing an eye."

"I got beaten by a rapist on drugs."

"If you make me do it you are racist."

"I am Tanner, so you know I won't go."

"You saw my driving, we islanders know how to fight, not how to fill up cars or repair them."

"Why are you all such lazy fucks today?" Osman said annoyed "We are all pushing the car, I am going to fix it, and then you can all lay down and take a fucking nap!"

"Or how about we nap now. We were all fucking sleeping back there and have been ever so rudely awaken by-"

"Aiden't bad driving." Ilian stated.

"I think it was the Lambent." Tanner corrected.

"If he knew how to drive better."

"It does not matter!" Aiden stated "We are here now, let us just...let's take a nap in the wrecked APC, I will be on watch, and then in the morning we will push it to the gas station together." They all agreed and Aiden sighed a bit, disappointed with them. No matter who was in the squad, no one wanted to do anything when disturbed from sleep. At least Osman was a bit different and wanted to get something done, yet fatigue was clearly within him...considering he didn't think that if it's five miles away they would all have to walk together...

Either way, they just climbed into the flipped over APC, majority of the people didn't need to really get comfortable or lay on a seat, but just fell asleep in the spot where they stopped moving in. Aiden sat on the edge of the seat and pulled from his belt a lighter and a cigarette, not usually one to do so, but he was going to be bored for another night babysitting the squad. He really felt like he was still in charge, whereas Gyules lead them and gave orders of where to go next, Aiden was watching over everyone, keeping up morale, killing enemies to try and save other squad members, and staying up many nights so that they may sleep in peace, though he didn't sleep much anyways. Just never was much of a sleeper whereas Tanner was known to fall asleep while scouting for the squad.

He looked up to the full moon, shining down on him as it made it's way into the center of the sky. He looked up to it and then began to just enjoy the beauty of that giant hunk of rock orbiting the planet. He laid back against the wall and in the morning the men would begin pushing the car to the gas station, Mora steering it and Ilian sitting in back of it, watching over them and for anyone who comes.

"Why can't the girls do any of this work?" Tanner stated and grunted as he pushed the vehicle "It's so freaking heavy!"Ilian bops him in the head with her palm.

"Someone has to be on watch and I am not as strong as the rest of you physically."

"That is bullshit."

"Kind of necessary." said Gyules "When one of us can go no longer she can replace them and push and then when another is out Mora will take their place and we will keep swapping. Would work better if we had more in reserve...but.."

"We don't." Tanner said as he kept pushing.

"WHOA STOP STOP!" shouted Mora at them. The guys stopped only to realize there was a steep hill ahead of them. Mora was screaming as the car tumbled it's way down, slamming on the breaks, but the car kept going and then made it to the end of the road and went forward a bit far before stopping. The guys quickly ran after as they fell, cursing as they went to it. The guys caught up with the vehicle quickly, rushing up and seeing Mora had hit the driving wheel and was lifting her head from it. Ilian fell back into the driver's seat and had her hair messed up, her head turning about as if she was a bit dizzy.

"Ilian!? Are you okay!" Tanner shouted rushing forward to her.

"I am fine, now that I know you care." Tanner blushed and everyone laughed at that. The guys then just began pushing ahead. The distance was awful and they had to swap out several times, but by the end of the day after all of their trouble they made their way to the station, the group passing out once more and leaving Mora on watch, though Ilian accompanied her. The vehicle was parked in front of the gas station and the group hardly had time to observe the place.

"I really hope a few things start picking up." Mora stated, leaning back a bit, using her arms to support herself. She looked up to the moon.

"Things get worse before they get better. Just gotta repair the APC and we can see the coast."

"How...is the ocean? It sounds a bit, I dunno, it feels really stupid to say this." she said and began to laugh a bit at herself. "Sounds unbelievable." Ilian looked over to her, a bit confused, but then thought to herself.

"You are used to be surrounded by walls and various other items, but you have never truly encountered a plain flat area I assume?" Ilian stated.

"Err...well, yeah actually. I have never seen a horizon. Th e idea of that much water also! In the Hollow we just have some underwater lakes and usually have to rely on streams for water, but have hot springs also to go in."

"Well the ocean is mostly usable for us as a water source. The water is different, it's salt water."

"You mean that little edible mineral?"

"I do not know the exact specifications, but it has little rocks like so and if one were to drink it they would become thirstier from that, among a few other properties I never bothered to learn."

"Oh! Odd, and things live in this? Like Levithans?"

"Leviathan..."

"Oh...right you dunno them...that is the name Mother called them. They are these very large adorable fish with the cutest blue eyes! The are large and commonly attack boats, also bearing a few tendrils, but they are still adorable! Thinking about it they probably migrated to your oceans with the flooding of the hollow, might even start growing bigger."

"That sounds...really cute, really does." Ilian stated, trying to lie to comfort Mora on this,of whom seemed to believe she did. Mostly out of the idea in her head that no one could deny the cuteness of a Leviathan. She really hoped they would see one and that it hopefully wouldn't try and eat them. Her dream would be that it's friendly and does tricks and they could play with it and that it's immune to lambency. All just a hope. The two girls eased themselves and relaxed.

"Do you ever...miss the Hollow?" Ilian asked "You mention stories of such a time, but you have never reacted too much to it."

"Well of course I miss the Hollow! It was my home, the land I once knew, I spent a majority of my life in there. I really didn't wanna leave, but I really made myself accustom to the surface, because if Mother's plan worked I would be stuck here anyways."

"You mean to flood the hollow and take the surface?"

"Yeah, that had been her plan for quite a while. Locusts had difficulty and were reluctant, but Myrrah forced it. I still enjoyed the land and loved it though and if I ever could I would go back."

"When this is all over, hopefully we can drain the Hollow or at the very least, parts of it."

"Hopefully..." Mora yawned and then adjusted herself, leaning back against the wall. Ilian crawled in back and pulled a blanket from their supplies, placing it over Mora.

"Rest for the night, I will remain on watch."

"Are you sure, Gyules might be-"

"It'll be fine." she said. Mora smiled a bit and was to argue more, but the land of dreams called to her, her eyes slowly shut and she was out quickly. Ilian, rather than being on watch, just closed the door and locked it. She then slipped into the covers over Tanner, cuddling him and falling asleep with a smile.

In the morning though, the squad would get up around noon, finding no trouble occurred. Gyules would have awaken an hour before the rest of them, coming out of the gas station with a large box containing old chips and whatnot.

"I got food."

"I don't think anything packaged is still edible!" Tanner shouted.

"Well what are you gonna eat?"

"Have any old Locust corpses?"

"I am highly offended at such a comment!" Mora stated as she got out of the place.

"And coming from the girl who openly admits she eats humans...and has actually eaten them around us."

"You guys weren't offended then, but the Locusts-" Mora wanted to continue and try and defend herself, but already now she was a hypocrite.

"I have the teeth of a carnivore, I need meat!"

"Go get Gyules' meat then."

"No that belongs to him."

"She isn't getting it man." Osman noted, the group expecting such a thing. Gyules set the box down and the group began to pull out varies bags and whatnot. Aiden took out a bag of some sort of cheesy item. He opened it up and ate one.

"I assume it's a stale as Tanner's humour." Gyules commented.

"A bit more, but it's edible." The group began to dig into the chips, a majority of them quite hungry anyways. As the others ate, Osman took a bag of pretzels with him and set it within the vehicle. He had the vehicle lifted and slid himself underneath, praying he wouldn't be crushed again. He prayed to whatever sort of overlord preceded over such events to let him not be crushed once more. Osman ate and began taking out a few parts and throwing them back. He dissected his way until he got to the damaged fuel tank, now coming out with it.

"Any cars here we can rip a new one from?" he said tossing it to Gyules. Some leftover Imulsion within it went flying about, a drop specifically hitting Mora's open mouth. Mora's eyes went wide and she began coughing, her voice now hoarse.

"That burns!" she shouted gripping her throat "It fucking burns, ah it burns! Get me some water!" Ilian tossed her a bottle of water and Mora opened it, drinking it. She gulped it down until it was gone, then began to take a few deep breaths.

"I can feel it as it goes down my throat!" Her eyes were filled with tears "Imulsion was not meant to be ingested!" The group laughed at her misery, Mora not reacting as much as she just wanted the imulsion gone. Gyules and Osman went over inside the place and ripped a bit of scrap metal, covering the hole int eh tank and checked if it worked by filling it with water, with which they had plenty taken from the town. Their covering worked fine.

Gyules walked over to a pump and checked if it worked. He ended up having to go from pump to pump until eventually one worked and Imulsion came out into the tank. Half the tank was filled. He handed it to Osman, taking parts from old cars there and making use of those to fix the vehicle. It was a long process, but they were making the most of it.

"This time has really been pointless to the reader, sorry!" Tanner stated "Might have another pointless story, but it will have emotions, I guarantee!"

"Who are you...talking to?" Ilian asked.

"Oh...uh...no one! Just...look I am shirtless!" he said and began trying to tear off his armour. He got stuck and then just fell over, feeling a tad bit disappointed in himself. Ilian sighed and pulled it back on, forcing him up.

"I care for your personality mostly rather than your body. Wish you learned this by now."

"So when are you two to get married?" Aiden asked "I believe you two are engaged once more."

"No, we are-"

"When we find a proper priest and wedding items." Ilian stated "He will not avoid me again." She took out her fully charged tazer, turning it on quickly to have electricity come out." Tanner jumped back a bit, arm in front. Ilian put it away. The group talked for the time as Osman fixed the APC. Soon it was finished and now they got into the vehicle. Ilian was driving this time, Aiden no longer being trusted. The driver was an hour, but soon they were on a hill above the coast, the group parking outside of it and standing out to observe.

When above the coast, they could see all of the new land that had been provided because of the flooding. The former docks and buildings along the coast appeared like a desert. It had become a sea of sand, leading out to the horizon where one could barely see the ocean then. Entire boats and ships once docked were now sinking in their new sea of sand. Once mighty vessels that fought the UIR, claiming many lives and causing many more to be claimed by the sea, were now claimed by sand.

The boats and various structures were struck by sand as wind blew and turned the area into a desert. Many small stones and shells were strewn across the ground, there being more towards the water. Adorned with these shells were skeletons of the life that once inhabited the ocean, the creatures having suffocated and died long ago when the water was taken. As one looked out farther they could see various rocks and corals that the sea once had housed were now exposed and dead.

In the distance though one could see Endeavor Naval Shipyard, a Shipyard apart of Halvo Bay. It was in an area where water was still nearby oddly enough, a harsh path in front of the area, but that could hardly be seen as it was so far off to the west of them.

From here they would need to explore the old ships and finally learn what was on this disc and have their own vacation of sorts.

The End


	30. Chapter 30 Olympia

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 30: Olympia

The men were now driving their APC across the former coastline, making their way to the water. They were excited inside, Mora a bit nervous and so Gyules had to comfort her.

"I have never...never seen so much flat land. It just goes on, forever? Really forever!?"

"No, it ends eventually." said Gyules "But it probably goes on pretty far." Gyules said "Hopefully we even got enough imulsion to get to the end."

"This is really just...a lot to imagine."

"Hopefully she isn't agoraphobic." Ilian commented from the driver's seat.

"She obviously isn't afraid of the outside." Tanner stated.

"Not that, agoraphobics are afraid of wide open spaces in which they suffer panic attacks and often don't feel like they are in control there." The vehicle then stopped, the group having arrived at the coast after a while of driving, though were driving at top speed of the APC. The back door opened and Mora stepped out. Looking back to them she stated: "I am fairly certain I can handle this, it's nothing..." She turned her head to look out to the vast open area and her face began to redden.

She began to breath a bit hard, looking over the area and as soon as the guys realized, her eyes rolled into her head and she fell over, out cold.

"Shit." said Gyules and the guys rushed over to her. Mora was out cold from looking over the vast empty area. Ilian walked out slowly, fairly confident that this would occur.

"She has never been out of the woods, towns, or mountainous regions as far as I can tell from your stories, considering her life in the hollow, it's a bit understandable she would not last well out here."

"What makes you so smart about this shit?" Gyules snapped.

"She has a degree in psychology and a minor in sociology." Tanner stated.

"Oh of course she does. Well what the fuck do we do when she comes out? She is just going to notice the space and pass out once more!"

"She is strong of mind, she should get adjusted a bit, just when she wakes up try and get her to relax. Should set up a sort of tent so she feels slightly more enclosed and yet can still see some of the plains. Gyules, you will stay with her. Should also probably get her something to drink, I have just the thing." The guys all look a bit confused.

"What is this thing you talk of?" asked Aiden. Ilian walked into APC and began to pull up parts of the floor, it proving easy to remove. There she pulled out a brown box and all of the guys watched, Gyules holding Mora bridal style.

"I stole a very rare box of chocolate and other materials, then I removed a piece of the floor to hide it." she stated "We should be able to make her some hot chocolate. Chocolate usually eases people a fair amount.'

"So you let us eat decade old snacks, before letting us have chocolate?"

"Might as well save it for a nice occasion, besides I am still saving it and have a few other materials in here."

"Such as..." Ilian opened the box and presented it to them. Inside bars of chocolate were stacked to the side and a box was laying flat with materials to make a cake, even a carton of eggs was inside.

"I am planning to make a cake for whomever's birthday comes first."

"Kind of need an..."

"I will gather the materials myself."

"I do not doubt her." Tanner said "Really, all the materials we need should be on one of those boats." said Tanner "Should have an oven, a computer, some supplies, it's perfect. Means this won't be a filler story."

"But many won't read it because you said it was filler if people are reading this..."

"Then we warn them in the next chapter. Who cares! It's occurring anyways. NOW ONWARD!" Gyules smacked him in the head.

"I give the orders. Let's go to the closest boat. If there are any Locusts on board now is the time to kill them." The guys nodded.

"Been needing to kill some Locusts for a while!" Tanner stated as he walked into the driver's seat and started it up. The APC drove for a few minutes and then stopped right before a large cruiser that was on the coast. They could hear Locusts shouting on the cruiser and starting to take position. They arrived at a large human Cruiser that had been purposely sunk to prevent the Locusts from using it. Specifically it was called the Olympia, a once proud ship built for battle in the Pendulum Wars. A little less than half of the ship was on top of the water, part of it submerged. The railings had scrap metal over them. The remains of a Troika sit a bit further down the ship. The barrels had melted as someone had used it too much and let it overheat.

"Should've figured they would do so...alright guys we need to take cover by the APC and have Tanner and Aiden come out first. Tanner, snipe as many Locusts as you can, while Aiden fires his Boomshot at them. Take out their scrap cover up there and as many Locusts as you can. Once it's been cleared enough we will rush through the hole and start making our way through there."

"Someone needs to stay out for Mora though." Ilian noted Just if she awakens early."

"Tanner, stay with Mora, try and snipe whomever comes out in view."

"Will do sir dee bob." Tanner said saluting Gyules.

"Great, now start shooting." They opened the back door and now Tanner and Aiden rushed out. Tanner poked his head out to observe for Locusts up there, whom were watching. He popped the head off one with his Longshot. The body fell over of the Locust and he went back into cover. A few Locusts were awaiting on top, but they were not Savage. They were dressed and outfitted like Locusts back when there was a COG and an actual war. They even were far better fed and were probably thinking more.

"It's Myrrah's Locusts guys!" Tanner said "Or at least they dress like it, but these guys are gonna be tougher than the others. A Torque Bow Bolt hit the sand and now exploded.

"And we got therons I assume." Aiden popped himself out and fired his Boomshot into the boat, the Boomshit hitting a Locust on the left and knocking off the railing with the scrap metal he was hiding behind. He then went back and reloaded. Soon though they heard the iconic: "Boom" and a boomshot whizzed overhead. Then the sound would end as Tanner shot him in the head with his Longshot, killing the Boomer that had approached.

The enemies attempted to fire upon the guys, causing much damage to the APC as they fired at it, only for Tanner to snipe them. After five more sniper kills of Tanner (Two therons), and nine Boomshot kills (enemies were close together), they decided to rush. Aiden signaled them and kept his Boomshot aimed up at the Locusts as his men began to rush forward to the initial hole in the ship. Gyules and Ilian providing supressing fire, while Osman wielded his Gnasher. The group rushed in and Osman slammed his Gnasher into a Locust hiding right of the hole, blowing him into messy chunks, but then stepped to his left and put the shotgun to a Locust hiding there and killed the drone. They ran into an old cargo room, filled with crates rotted out by the ocean that had once filled the boat. 'Gyules and Osman fired upon Locusts within the room, waiting to their left. The Locust fell over dead and they all rushed forward into the stairwell.

"Split up, two and two. Osman, Ilian, clear the bottom floor. Aiden and I will go up the stairs." They all nodded and soon they rushed forward. Locusts were starting to meet them down the hallway, getting in cover behind various boxes and walls of stone they set up just in case. They were rushing down a hallway where it seemed bedrooms were once. Some Locusts were coming right out of their rooms, both upstairs and downstairs. Aiden fired his Hammerburst into Locusts, popping the jaw off one and forcing him to hit the ground. Gyules then began to blindflire his Lancer across the area.

On the level below there were just as many Locusts, but they were charging forward and hoping to flank. A grenadier elite specifically came running out of his bedroom and was taking fire from Ilian before getting in cover in front of her. Osman then leaned out of cover, being in a wall next to hers and put his shotgun as far for to the creature as he could before firing. The Locust was torn apart to bits and then a bullet hit Osman's fake hand and he pulled it out. He pulled the bullet out of it and checked if it worked. It did and he then swapped to his Lancer.

Locusts were rushing to the fight, majority of them coming upstairs to Gyules and Aiden. Gyules was firing at Locusts who ran down the stairs once they were in the open. Locusts opened fired upon them, but were not managing much. Aiden rushed forward a bit, jumping over cover and staying down when Locusts fired upon him. He got into cover right before a Locust and pulled out his boltok. Right when the Locust got up he put his boltok to his head and blew out his brains, without standing up. He then fired it into another Locust he could see while standing. He fired three shots before the Locust fell over, dead and put the last two in one coming down the steps. A shot specifically hitting his chest and then grazed his neck. The Locust fell over bleeding and gripping his neck.

Downstairs, Ilian was strategically shooting Locusts, staying out of cover and managing to shoot at Locusts whenever they popped up, forcing them to not go up or become wounded. She ended up shooting one dead before going into cover and reloading. In that case a Grenadier came out and was preparing a grenade, only for Osman to take out his snub pistol. Osman began firing his snub pistol over and over at him before hitting the grenade on the sixth shot and causing it to explode. The Locust was thrown into the wall and another beside him was thrown out, fallen to the ground and then was shot with four snub pistol bullets and fell over dead. He got into cover and blind fired the last one, one of them managing to hit a Locust and didn't really do much damage. Now reloaded Ilian rushed forward near mindlessly through cover. Once a Locust came out to shoot her she tumbled forward and revved the chainsaw, slammed it into his leg. She cut through his leg and thigh and the Locust fell over wounded, only for it to be forced onto his chest. Osman ran ahead and was covering her by firing at the few Locusts they have left.

Aiden and Gyules soon would need back up as they were ready to start rushing forward. The bottom floor bore a staircase up, but it's still somewhat submerged, at least bearing a near puddle of water there, so hence Locusts were not coming from there. So Ilian and Osman were soon finishing up there while Aiden and Gyules had Locusts rushing downstairs.

"We got a lot of guys comin'!" Aiden stated.

"Been needing to kill Locusts for a while anyways." Gyules said as he blind fired and they then heard a Locust fall over. Course then he felt something and pulled his hand back to find a Torque Bow Bolt impaled into it.

"SHIT!" he screamed ripping it out and throwing it aside. The bolt exploded in mid air before so.

"Why does no one do that!? Seriously!? Why not rip it ou-here comes the pain. Yeah that really hurts..." Fresh blood poured from the wound and Gyules took some gauze from his belt and began to wrap it around, the gauze being pre soaked with medicine. Their stim gas grenades were sadly used up before or else he would use one. His hand hurt to shoot, but he could fight through. Specifically he would get his revenge and got out of cover, firing at the Theron. The Theron struggled a bit under the Lancer bullets before falling over dead, his pre charged torque bow bolt falling over and exploding harmlessly on the floor. A Locust drone was about to open fire at Gyules when Aiden shot it in the head. The Locusts were thinning out and now they were rushing forward, Ilian and Osman joining them at the moment. The group opened fire at whomever got up, quickly taking out remaining opposition. Gyules then made radio contact to Tanner.

"Still alive man?"

"Yeah, out of Longshot ammo, shot seven of the buggers."

"How many did you really?"

"...Three, used seven bullets though."

"Getting rusty?"

"No, was going for some of those hard shots where like you see only a portion of their head."

"You would do that."

"It's fine! Anywhom, still firing with my Markza at the few up here and Mora is out. The entire ship isn't filled I suspect."

"Yeah these Locusts are better armed, but struggled in fighting."

"See any stalks here? Lambent haven't been coming up so they are naturally rusty."

"Touche, cya when we are up there."

"I only might shoot you." Gyules stopped with radio contact and starting running forward, leading the squad down the hall. Course now they were meet with an area set up. It was cleared of cover, but had open doors. There sandbags were set up with a chain gun set up on a little platform. The Chain gun bore signs it had been under water, fairly rusted and had a few barnacles left over on it, but that didn't stop this from firing once fixed up. The men rushed into cover in some rooms the chain gun having fired. It was in a little outpost area, bearing a Spotter, Turret Man, two Therons, and a Kantus."

"Where are the Boomers?" asked Osman to Gyules, those two in the same cover.

"Top deck, this area is too rusted and destroyed, with the Boomer's destructive weapons it wouldn't be wise to have'em here. Torque Bow has an explosion meant to kill, not meant to cause massive harm and that is probably why they got them down there though."

"I see..." Said Osman. Aiden threw two frag grenades into the cover, landing past the sand bags.

"They should be afraid of shit like that." Gyules noted. The man on the turret shouted about the grenade, letting go and about to run off only for it to explode. Bits of blood and Locust flesh rained down, the spotter, and the turret Locusthaving died. A theron was wounded and the other attempted to help. The Kantus was bleeding out and began trying to rush off, a large piece of shrapnel in his jumped out past Aiden and fired her Lancer into the remaining Theron. The Theron took shots to the chest and shot at her with a Lancer. He fell back and her armour deflected a bit of it, though gripped her body as it did hurt a bit. Osman ran over to checked for her, Gyules just walking over and flipped the wounded theron onto his back. His boot then slammed into his head and soon several more Locusts came running over to the group to act as reinforcements. Gyules fired with his Lancer and then fell over from gunshots of the rushing Locusts, there being five basic drones, a new spotter, and a new turret man.

Gyules was on his back wounded and then Aiden fired his Boomshot into Locusts farthest from Gyules, killing one and wounding another of whom was shot by Ilian. The Locusts got into cover behind the sandbags, ignoring Gyules who was downed and still wielding a Lancer. Ilian and Aiden got into cover of a room, but Osman rushed to save Gyules. The Locusts began to shoot at him and he ended up falling over from gunshots right next to their commander.

"Ow...hey." Osman said.

"Hey." he said as he tossed his ink grenade at the Locusts, it landing right on the bags and now starting to clog up the lungs of the Locusts. Gyules and Osman though had a puddle of blood forming beneath them, but soon Ilian and Aiden ran over to revive them while the Locusts were struggling in the ink. The two got up and the revive healed their wounds. Not entirely certain how but they were healed and would be fine to fight. The group just unloaded their guns into the thick ink and killed whomever was in there or wanted out.

"Alrighty, how many more you expect there to be?" Gyules asked.

"Are you okay first, took a bit of fire."

"Oh I was never in any danger."

"Stop swallowing your pride and admit when you are hurt. Admit when something bothers you for a damned change."

"Later, let's just clear out the area if Osman is fine."

"I got crushed by a house, if that didn't kill me, bullets won't."  
>"Sure you are okay as well Osman?"<p>

"I will tell you any time I am hurt Il, I am not going to run into combat ready to die."

"I trust you, but not you." Gyules just rolled his eyes and started walking forward once more. He did not enjoy her presence, where the others of the squad seemed to befriend her and even Tanner spent much of his time with her, Ilian kept telling Gyules to swallow his pride. Wanted him to relax and ease, do more things with Mora. Fucking hated someone telling him what to do, he is happy in his own way, so he should be staying that way. Course she was still a member of his squad, if she was in trouble or needed covering fire he would provide it just like anyone else in Omega, just less likely to risk his life for her.

He just kept rushing forward down the hallway, finding a staircase up and taking up. The staircase lead them to a little lounging room. The room had two old arcade games facing the stairs, having been bolted to the ground, but the cracked screens showed they no longer worked. In front of the stairwell was a fallen over table thrashball game that the Cole Train had once helped make. Would even say his iconic "Whoo!" When one scored a point. A few tables were picked up that had once been scattered and a cracked open window was to their right, but with shudders that can cover it. Locusts were coming down a stairwell to the left to shoot at them. Specifically a Grenadier Elite was rushing down and shouting as he fired his boltok at them. One of the shots grazed Gyules across his head and he just took out his Retro Lancer, firing three shots of it to prevent the recoil from starting. The Grenadier was hit in the head and went in the air, his legs going above his head and then fell flat.

"Grenadiers really suck at their job." Gyules stated. The radio then turned on and the ground into cover behind makeshift pillars made in the room, though Aiden got in cover behind the thrashball game.

"Yo guys, we some new shit."

"What do you mean, new shit."

"New shit as in giant flying fish! They got this large fish shit thing that is flying and boomshots are firing at the car. They are tearing up the APC."

"Get Mora out of there and get into the boat! NOW! Don't let the APC die!"

"Willco, you will hear me if I die!" he said.

"We gotta get up there now!" Said Gyules and began to run forward. Ilian reached for him, hoping to make him stop, but Gyules ran down the hall, firing his retro into any Locust he saw on the way. The Locusts didn't put much of a fight with how fast he sprinted. He ran through a little library ahead and past the captain's room which had vending machines (Now empty, sorry no infinity mints) and to the top of the boat. There he could see a gas barge lowering itself.

Gyules took out his Lancer and began firing at the creature. He fired the rest of his clip and then reloaded.

"Shit...two mags left." he said. The gas barge stopped focusing on the APC and now a turret was firing Boom Shot multi turrets at him. Gyules got scared than and jumped back, the explosions slamming into the top of the deck and tearing through it. The squad was following behind him and he was caught by Aiden.

"We gotta take down that fish." he said "Mortars, heavy weapons...we need that shit, it has to be here somewhere right? We can...boomers. Let's go kill Boomers, give Aiden the ammo, he can keep firing his boomshot until it goes down. If anyone can hit anything with a Boomshot it's our big guy." Aiden nodded.

"Rush to the battlefield, try and stay out of range of the barge. Aiden, keep on watch of the vehicle, alert everyone if it can shoot us."

"Got it." Aiden said and now the ground nodded. Soont hey began rushing forward and firing at every Locust that came into view. Aiden fired hi Boomshot at the Barge, the shot slamming into the bottom of it and harming the creature, causing it to shout in pain. He then began to reload. The group got into cover beside a large gun that had once been elsewhere on the boat. Now they were they were gunning down drones who got into view, Aiden reloading his Boomshot every chance he got and then stepping back, firing it into the barge.

"BOOMERS!" shouted Gyules as two Boomers were showing up, showing their iconic Boom. They launched their explosives, whizzing past them and barely missing Omega. One of them went so close. The Boomers were soon joined by more drones and another Kantus. The Kantus began shouting a ritual to heal the boomers, forcing Omega to get into the meager cover they could manage. Rather than being stingy with grenades, those were thrown again, this time Osman tossing a flame grenade. It hit a Boomer right in the face and he began to burn, his entire body catching fire. The fire spread to the other Boomer of whom shrugged off the flames that weren't spreading and were being healed by Locusts. Osman and Gyules began to fire their weaponry, Gyules firing his retro lancer. The retro lancer even while inaccurate was still able to have most of the shots hit the Boomer due to just how large it was. The bullets tore through it's flesh and armour and leaving gaping wounds right where it hit. Soon the Boomer felt over dead, but now they all had to rush out.. An Ink grenade landed right onto Osman's helmet. The group began to rush out as it went off, coughing vigorously. All of them besides Osman, of whom has a helmet, WITH A FILTERING SYSTEM! (Take that Dom.)

They all had to rush out though right into view of the Barge, which was now firing at them and raining down explosions. The guys were rushing and trying to avoid the explosions. One of them ended up sending Osman flying back and sliding forward a little, right before a Locust wielding a shotgun.

"Ah shit..." he said and the Locust lifted up his boot. He then slammed it down and now the both of them were in pain. The Locust stepped on a helmet, Osman now has a headache from the stomp. He took out his shotgun and fired it into the drone, then fell back behind a crate that the Locust had hidden in before.

Aiden meanwhile fired his Boomshot into the barge one more, harming it. He reloaded it and now Gyules ran forward.

"Ilian, take out the Kantus!" he said. Just as he said that the Kantus had fallen over dead, ink filling the area where it had passed. Gyules meanwhile ran over to the Boomer corpse and picked up a Boomshot. Just as he looked up, Aiden fired another shot into the Barge, hitting the large fish once more and now it was bleeding out. Blood was pouring onto the Locusts on the barge, who stood on the edge. One of them went to the turret only to be covered in blood and step back. Gyules then fired his Boomshot into the bottom of the Barge. The bottom paltform, causing it to bounce up and damage the bottom, but also force the needles that made the barge move enter it's backside. The barge yelled in pain and began to go down, the needles having been the final straw. The Barge slowly made it's way down and went to the other end of the boat. The Locusts dove from it as it hit the barely sunken area, exploding on the ship and take out much of it and the Locusts there. Pieces of it's flesh rained down upon them. The few Locusts who were left were rushing off to leave the fight, a very large hole now being left where the barge had hit it. Gyules got up, smiling.

"That was satisfying." he said "I will go talk to Tanner, I am gonna comfort Mora and get her in the APC, get rid of the bodies before she sees! As far as she knows, this never happened. If any Locusts are alive, kill them, there might be others int eh ship, but as far as I suspect, they didn't fill this place to max capacity with Locusts." The squad groaned, other than Aiden that is, they groaned.

"Do you wanna deal with Mora yelling and crying because we just killed all of these men." Another groan and now they began working. He began to contact Tanner over the radio.

"She still passed out?"

"Should be waking up soon, felt the explosion, what did ya do?"

"How did you know-"

"What else would that be?" Gyules shrugged, figuring that was reasonable.

"Well get Mora in the APC, I am going to comfort her and you gotta help get rid of the bodies." Tanner groaned over the radio and then asked in the most whiny voice he was capable of: "Do I have to?"

"Wanna have Mora complain over the dead Locusts and maybe cry a little?"

"...I will get to work." Gyules figured that worked "Keep your guns ready, we think we killed them, but there is always a chance some didn't attack." Course it wasn't a massive boat, it was just an old battleship, not even a great battleship, just one with a few heavy guns and half of it was sunk. Well, now more if might be doing so since the barge hit it and detonated it's ammunuition. The guys would not need to clean that, just say it was there. That works. Gyules ran downstairs and would walk past Tanner as he returned form dropping Mora in there.

"The girl is starting to awaken." he said.

"Gotcha." Gyules said as he walked over to the APC. He walked around and into the vehicle, seeing Mora passed out and laying on the seats. He sat near her and just waited, Tanner saying she was to be up soon, but who knows if she was or not. Actually I know, since I am the writer, therefore I am sort of god here. She awoke in a few minutes to see him easing there. She rubbed her head a bit and looked over to him.

"Gyules...what happened. Where are we?"

"You are in the APC and proved goraphobic." he said and then realized they never did anything with that hot chocolate. They would do do so later if the ship had a functioning kitchen, still had to scout for that.

"We drove the APC to a ship so we could translate the disc and hopefully it should take up enough space that you won't feel so exposed." Gyules stated.

"Oh, thanks then. You guys didn't have to drive out here-"

"Yeah we did. You passed out very quickly when you stepped out there, like the moment you did. Besides, we can't just keep you in here, you gotta enjoy the beach with them." She smiled and got up, stretching a little.

"I am terribly sorry about that, I just never-"  
>"I understand, don't need to go on explaining things. Just a lot to take in seeing all of that land for the first time. You were kind of born in a cave system after all."<p>

"Right..." she said blushing a little, still a bit embarrassed over passing out from that. She then laid back against the wall.

"You guys can go swimming later, right now everyone is busy checking out the ship. Half of it is sunk and something hit it in the end."

"Something? Wait what is this something? A reaver?"

"Think it's Locust but dunno, torn apart and too big to be a Reaver. Nothing as big as it flies on the surface. They will contact us when they knew the place is safe though."

"I am glad you stayed behind. Whether it was or wasn't by choice, I am just glad I can spend some time with you." Gyules was now the own blushing, looking over to her a bit shocked, Mora brought her legs up and hugged them close to her. She leaned over onto him.

"You always try to protect me and whatnot. Wish you would open up a bit more, but you have still been a wonderful person." she said "As much as you don't want it known, you are a nice person. You care a lot for everyone." Gyules looked over to her, a bit surprised and then just looked away, trying to seem calmer. The blush on his face showed him differently though and he tried to ease a bit.

"I just...other than my father I have few people in my life I really feel truly safe with. Not even just physically, but with my emotions and actions. I can do something wrong or act informal and you just laugh it off and treat me the same. I can confess stories and you listen to it and get into it, you go as far as you can to protect me...you just...I wish I could clone these qualities and make a lot more people like yourself." Gyules wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.

"I plan to be that person for you for as long as I can. I will try and keep you happy in these crazy times. I care for you Mora..."

"And I for you, for everyone here." she said smiling "I just wanna sit like this forever."

"Then let us do so."

"No you won't!" said Tanner walking into the APC, wiping blood off of his hands with a rag.

"Locusts are signaling our ship. I think the ones we k-or I think this ship once housed Locusts and now they are gone. Either way they are trying to signal us, launched flares."

"How do you know it's Locusts."

"We got a telescope, looked through it and could see a scouting party, possibly came from somewhere else but they launched a flare."

"I don't know of such signaling. Just us..find any flare and launch it!"

"Quickly, I don't want them coming here." Gyules said "They are gonna shoot first and we can't have Mora waiting out here for them to see first." The three then took off running right towards the ship. Gyules wrapped his arm around Mora, trying to make her feel a bit enclosed and not notice the place as they ran in. Tanner slipped on the floor just as he entered. He fell on his back quite harshly, the other two ran off abandoning him. Tanner felt very loved at that moment as he got up and complained of spine trouble, then took off. They began digging through the rooms down the hallway, tearing through everything dry.

Many personal items the Locusts had were thrown apart, the boxes removed as they kept trying to find a flare and a flare gun. The first few minutes they searched through the rooms and then whenever they saw it was a bedroom they stopped searching. It would be Aiden who found the items. He tore through a box on top of the boat, containing many flares, but of three colours: green, blue, and red. He took a red one, figuring he had to copy them and took a flare gun sitting on top of them, putting it into the gun. He put the gun into the air and fired. The flare went up high and everyone could see it. Course then the Locusts launched another, but towards Endeavor. Ilian looked through a scope and noticed the Locusts were walking back. She put a hand to her chest and felt how fast her heart was beating.

Would have been a disaster if they alerted more Locusts, already had to throw all of the old ones in that large hole which now stunk to high hell. That or they threw them into the deeper part of the ship. They hadn't actually completed yet, instead they just threw everything into the hole or sunken part, but chances are they would just leave it at that. With that, the group decided to settle for the day, each of them picking out rooms for them and would rest. Instead of sleeping though, Mora and Gyules sat together through the night and talked. They proved a bit loud and woke up their friends, so they had to retreat to lower levels.

At Endeavor though, at night the Locust party returned, it was a scouting party that usually made rounds through they are okay and see if they have any new information. They usually looked upon each ship with a scope since someone was always out. Firing a flare just meant to show yourself, not to fire one back. Though the Locusts already not only saw it was humans, but could see Mora running with a human holding her. One could not miss Mora, she bore the Locust symbol upon her uniform and no human had long white hair like so. They were reporting this directly to the leader of Endeavor, Queen Myrrah herself.

She was specifically sitting in her room set up in what was once the captain's office. Now instead a large bed was placed there and she looked over all of the Locusts through a window, including her Tempest which sat below it, currently laying down and sleeping. Sometimes it's wings would begin to flutter and such, indicating it was dreaming that she is flying. Myrrah was going through a restless night just like the rest. She hadn't been sleeping as much, she was so worried for not only her daughter, but her people. She kept fearing maybe she was wrong to send Mora away, but this area was just not safe. Though she would know if anything happened here, whereas those gears could go anywhere in the world...Oh she couldn't help but think about it, kept worrying. Course also in the past they had been dealing with raids from a few Stranded groups who wanted revenge. They proved futile, but still managed to do some damage and cause a few casualties. Even the Lambent sometimes attacked, but now they had giant serapedes. These creatures should extremely help against humans and such. Course also they ate a few Locusts...

Sacrifices, sacrifices...her men were not getting any stronger. Their morale weakened every day. Even with her influence they became somewhat Savage and some were already a bit feral. Something had to be done...but little could be done.

The reverse went also for her Locusts. While the majority of them respected her and such, those who actually knew her thought she was too stressed out. She was beginning to lose hair and gained a few more wrinkles on her face. She did not go out as much or greet the people, nor did she make up as many speeches. She was just too tired all the time from the stress, people worried. She still had some hope though, she had her men investigating an island. Or so she believed an island was there. Ravens have been seen flying and she managed to following one to it to a location, but her plans were foiled when they noticed a hurricane in the distance and fled back upon her own orders. Still, she knew something was out there...something had to be, whether it was a human boat or an island or something! It had to be there.

Soon though the Locust actually arrived (finally). He knocked on the door and she told him to come in. A theron was lead in, who communicated the far more efficient Theron way with whispers and such. The whisper is barely audible to anyone who is not trained to understand it Myrrah listened to it, he mentioned a few humans, three seen, one other confirmed, and Mora. Recognized by the armour she had been given and her white hair. Once asked for a description he described each one by a few qualities, these being qualities she remembered, except for Ilian, but the most part she was certain it's Omega.

"I shall make out to see if it her soon. If not I can kill the Locusts." she said "I will set out in the morning. Besides, it is Mora's birthday in a few days anyways. I need to see her." Myrrah stated "Go rest now, I will be leaving in the morning."

The End


	31. Chapter 31 Planning

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 31: Planning

The members of Omega, feeling fairly safe the next day, were currently digging through the wreckage of the ship for anything of use. Currently starting with the kitchen. Osman was digging through everything there while the others sat in chairs and awaited to see if they had any food. They started with the freezer, Osman putting on his helmet for the filtration system, then opened it. Even with such a system, a stench most rotten comes from it and he tumbled back a fair amount.

"That bad?" Gyules asked.

"A lot of rotting bodies, power isn't even on in this room, dunno why they thought it would work."

"They can hope." Mora defended and got up, opening up a few cabinets now. The room was starting to fill witht eh sound of stomachs aching from a lack of food.

"Should have stock piled in town." Tanner said "Or just steal a ton, fuck I am so hungry for a decent meal! I would even take Aiden's Cajun right now."

"It will make you shit fire." Aiden said happily, remembering Tanner 'shitting fire' from it. Mora opened up a cabinet and yelped as a bag of crabs fell upon her. Inside the cabinet were quite a few creatures captured quite recently and not rotting yet. They were in scavenged plastic bags, tied incredibly so they were basically air tight and it stopped decay.

"We got seafood!" she said and stood up, lifting up a bag of crabs. "We got plenty!"

"I can cook that!" Aiden said and walked into the kitchen. Aiden opened the oven and now began checking if everything worked.

"I will prepare something in a minute, go do whatever." Aiden stated. The men groaned and would hope at least the fish were good. Other than Mora they prayed there was nothing odd in there and that there was no human. Aiden wouldn't care to add it thinking that once a body is without the soul, even if it lives, it is useless. Didn't eat it, but just didn't care.

While they prepared such a thing, elsewhere Myrrah was preparing to head towards the location. She knew what ship to go to, go to the one that seems most damaged and different from before. Might have signs of a barge nearby, one of them did not check in that had gone over there to check on the boats. Specifically the one to check the COG boats: Dawn, Unity, Olympia, and Cognitive.

Currently Locusts were putting on a few supplies, specifically nicer supplies since Mora's birthday is tomorrow and she would stay the area if Mora is around and give her the gift. If not she would give it to Mora when she saw her next. Mora is turning 24. So she had to have a celebration as she always made sure Mora's birthday was celebrated. That she at least got some better treatment and some sort of gift at the least.

"Is everything packed and ready?" Myrrah demanded to know as she approached the Tempest. The Locusts packing it up nodded and she began to walk up makeshift steps to get on top. The steps were made from scrap items, various debris, old books, etc. She walked up into the seat of the Tempest and petted it's head a little. The tempest enjoyed it and moved it's head up a bit to try and get her to do it more.

"I will be off, I may be gone for a day or two, but I should be fine. If I am gone for more than five days send a search party. Ooor is in charge then." Ooor, a Palace Guard, stood up right and nodded to her. Ooor was the highest ranking Locust left that wasn't Kantus. Thanks to Skorge's actions all Kantus have been banned from gaining power in any position but among their own kind. So for example, a Kantus to rise to a higher priest status, but if they are leading any troops they cannot gain to the status to general. At most they can just become a Kantus Knight and that is it.

The Tempest began to start flapping it's wings and took off. It rose into the air and began to hurry forward, flying it's way to the ship. The creature was incredibly fast for things the Locusts had. Could keep pace with a Packhorse and Reavers, but couldn't out do them too much. Either way, it was making it's way to the place quickly and within two hours it had checked the Dawn and was at the Olympia. Most obviously it was the Olympia, there was a giant dead Barge Fish on the top of it by a hole. That and she could directly see Tanner's shaved head watching her in scope. A bullet zoomed by her and nearly grazed her shoulder.

"FUCK I MISSED!" shouted Tanner from below. Myrrah was about to have the Tempest roast him when Mora walked out and slapped him, She couldn't see her face entirely, but the hair obviously showed it was Mora. Mora seemed excited and down below she was shouting about it.

"I can't believe it, Mother is here!" she said "I thought I would never see her again, hoping maybe she isn't as strict, but she should be proud of my defeat of Jacob."

"And with your eye..." Gyules said "She is going to kill us...ah crap. You go out there first to greet her. Calm her down about it for us. We are gonna fortify a room and if she attempts to attack with that beast we are gonna put it down or die trying!"

"What you aren't."

"C'mon Youkahainen."

"Don't call me that and I am coming man! I was thinking of this before you even arrived."

"Sure ya were."

"That is why I shot at her..."

"Now we are really fucked." The two rushed down the stairs and now were gathering everyone else." Mora looked over at them, unable to believe them. She granted them the chance to live and saved her life from Skorge, obviously she wouldn't kill them. At least it's obvious to Mora, to the guys and how they have dealt with Locusts...not exactly so. Mora rushed downstairs, her stomach full from having the meal Aiden prepared, giving her full of energy. Enough that she rushed down and to the opening in the ship, running to Myrrah and hugging her.

"Mother!" she said happily. Myrrah was a little surprised by the affection and nearly fell over, but then patted her a bit, assuming she missed her. Course then Mora backed up and she saw her face.

"Moragna, it is lovely to see you once more, but what happened to your eye! Why is it covered by this patch!?"

"Oh...uh...well..."

"I should have known those humans were a failure! I trust you with them, decide to please them and this is what happens!? Moragna-"

"Mother, it's fine. Depth perception sucks a little...but it's fine. I lost this eye saving Locusts."

"Saving Locusts?! What were you doing to save Locusts? Was it-"

"It was an evil human Mother. His name was Jacob, he had formed a human army and was cleansing areas of Locusts with various traps and whatnot. He was to kill many more Locusts, but I organized them and lead an assault personally upon him. His army was wiped out and in the fight with him, he sort of...stabbed me in the eye. It hurt, it really hurt but I had to do it! He not only want to go after me, but talked of going after you."

"You are highly exaggerating such an event. I do not believe such a human could have done such a thing." she said and was climbing back to the Tempest.

"These humans have failed you! They have done a poor job protecting you and therefore they shall die."

"NO!" She was acting so different right now. The more emotion, defending the humans, raising her voice at er mother! These humans were causing her to defy control. Whereas Myrrah wanted her daughter obedient, she couldn't help but be happy she is standing up for what she desires. Even if it is wrong, she needs to learn to lead. Myrrah still had to do something, for her poor child. These humans needed to be punished. She climbed onto the Tempest with much difficulty and then had it walk over to the side of the ship. Rather than enter it just began to shine it's light on the side. The light began to melt the old metal and soon it began to burn through the ship. The creature stopped for a bit to father it's energy again, the wall starting to melt away. Mora ran over into the area, stepping in front of it.

"Stop it! I told you that they did nothing wrong and therefore they did nothing wrong! I am fine with this eye lost if it meant saving Locust lives."

"Moragna-"

"Mother! I would lose both of my eyes if it meant saving Locusts. This was my decision and I did things they could not control causing this to happen. I would do so again if given the chance to redo my actions. Now settle down!" Myrrah glared at her daughter, of whom presented an angry stare. Her eyes were filled with anger, but an odd anger. It was an anger to try and protect, to try and save these...humans. These humans she was so fond of that she has spent a majority of the year with. She couldn't help but back down and had the Tempest settle, climbing down.

"You really want to protect these humans."

"I do not care if they are human or not, they have treated me well and have become better friends of mine than most Locusts were." Myrrah sighed and was reluctant to give in, though nonetheless had to check in also, clearly the Locusts here were gone and the Barge went down. Hopefully Moragna would be mad if she found out they killed them, which they probably did.

"Let me talk with them though, Locusts were once here and now they are gone."

"That can be done." Mora began to lead her to the ship, now noticing though she was outside. She felt so vulnerable once she realized she was out. Her sides so far open, snipers could be there...or something...anything! She tried to focus on the ship, the ship and the Tempest which was walking alongside them. They crowded her enough...protected her. The walk felt so long, each step feeling like a hassle, a dangerous awful hassle she did not look forward to. Yet she had to do through it until eventually she got into the opening. The breath she had held was let go and she seemed to be relieved as she walked into the ship.

"She is not going to kill you!" shouted Moragna "You are not going to die...today!" Her voice echoed about the ship and then she could hear the sounds of guns rustling, Osman and Aiden stepping out of cover from the floor above. Ilian and Tanner were in another set of rooms and Gyules awaited at the end. They all stepped out, guns ready, safety off.

"Promise?" Gyules asked. Myrrah said nothing, the ground awaiting in silence. Mora looking at her, expecting her to say it already. Myrrah rolled her eyes and finally said: "I promise."

"You promise what..."

"I promise I will not kill you today."  
>"Good enough for me." said Tanner "So what is the Queen doing here today? Coming in for a visit of your favourite humans! Are we gonna have to do some sort of dangerous mission for the Locusts? Anymore Locust big shots to kill. Gyules got Skorge, I wanna kill someone important. I think I can go next." Myrrah glared at him and then Ilian stepped forward, bowing.<p>

"It is an honour to meet you. I apologize on behalf of his lack of intelligence. My husband is-"

"Nor your husband."

"My soon to be husband just wants some excitement and such."

"At least one human here bears the proper decorum. Now what happened to the Locusts here."

"Attacked by Lambent." Gyules stated. The guys all looked to him, realizing now he was to make up a story, lying, but lying expertly. Enough so far to fool the Queen.

"Oh? Moragna said nothing of the sort."

"She said nothing because she was not awake for it. Moragna is agoraphobic, being born in the hollow and such, she has never encountered a wide open area such at this newly made desert. Too much for her to take in, caused her to pass out before the fight. We arrived to find several Lambent rising from the water and attacking the Locusts. No stalks needed. Your men were taken by surprise, expecting the stalk to rise and were slaughtered, the Barge didn't help at all and was taken down by a Gunker. We cleaned up the bodies and the imulsion since we are to stay here a while."

"I see." Myrrah stated. She didn't entirely trust Gyules here, but yet didn't trust him. Almost feared what he said, Lambent rising from the water. She had no such problems, but the Lambent were evolving every day.

"A Gunker came from the water? What is this Gunker..."

"Oh thought you would bear the same name since already the name we picked for your kind was correct. Gunkers are Lambent Boomers."

"Oh those things."

"Fell into the ship and now you are out Locusts. So yeah, anything else your majesty."

"A few things, one of such things I need just the humans." Mora looked at her a bit surprised.

"Yes just them." Mora sighed and chose not to question, merely walking off to let them converse. She would just sit out on the deck and explore the ship, maybe look into the ocean for a while and see if she can handle it. Who knows but Mora was highly curious right now as to what they were talking on. She wouldn't try and listen though, that is defiling their privacy. The group though brought Myrrah to the more relaxed area and sat down, Myrrah getting the most comfortably seat and Gyules sitting across from her. While Myrrah sat proper, Gyules sat appearing uninterested and with a scowl upon his face. His hand was rubbing the top of his snub pistol, acting almost like it had an odd feeling, rubbing the corners and sides of it.

"So what do you desire?"

"Moragna's birthday is coming. It needs to be celebrated." The guys all looked at her a bit confused.

"You want us...to celebrate her birthday? Really? I didn't think you celebrated such things."

"Most Locusts do not, in my family we keep up such a thing for Mora." And one year for RAAM, got a party hat on him and had to make a much larger cake from human flesh. Was very fun, RAAM enjoyed himself, but that was his last birthday and he died later that year.

"You must be quite exposed to human culture then." Ilian stated "As you know of such a holiday and do not even bear an altered name. Picked it up, but only you picked it up."

"The other Locusts know of such a thing, but Locusts do not raise their families. Children are taught by their elders once birthed by the females. "You humans have dumped your garbage and such down into the Hollow many times before, we many make use of it and learn from it as well so we have knowledge of your society. This girl is the spouse of the bald one though?"

"You do not even bother to remember my name..." Tanner said quite disappointed "Let us just past this and whatnot. What do you want us to do to celebrate her birthday. What have you done to celebrate it exactly?"

"Each person capable provides her a gift who arrives and we celebrate eating a dessert of some sort."

"I will make a cake if the materials are provided." Aiden stated.

"No I will" Ilian rebutted.

"Actually I do not believe any of us have the ability to bake." said Gyules.

"I have a Locust who can do such a thing if none of you are capable."  
>"We can make it, no doubt about that. We just can't make it well. So get your guy, not much we can really gather as a gift here either. Should maybe explore a few places. How long do we have?"<p>

"Her birthday is the day after tomorrow." For some odd reason, Tanner feared a freak winter would form then for some reason. Knew it wouldn't but had an odd feeling possibly from another dimension.

"Then we should search right away. I will stay here and keep her company while you search through ruins and such for things. I will manage a gift."

"If you think this is best." Myrrah stated, not exactly enjoying the way Gyuels gave orders to her and them, as if he controlled her. Yet she knew she was just using herself as a resource rather than as a soldier. Still, if it works.

"Unless your home at Endeavor has items. Very easy to deduce you are stationed there."

"I will drop the men wherever they desire. Just make sure she is happy on her birthday."

"Would try even if my life wasn't at stake." Myrrah wondered about that comment and then Gyules got up and began to walk off, Myrrah leading the squad to the Tempest, which could hold Myrrah and two others.

"I will send Reavers to the place." said Myrrah "You cannot all fit, just wait outside here." Aiden and Osman stepped up.

"The lovebirds will search on their own, we can take Endeavor. " Osman stated as he climbed up to the Tempest. He began to climb, but then fell off onto his back. Aiden laughed and helped him up. Aiden climbed up a bit and then grabbed Osman by his arm. He pulled him up and then put him into the mount beside him.

Myrrah flew them to the place, though in silence. She normally would oppose this, but these humans were no danger. They were obviously awful at their job, they couldn't save Mora's eye. They let her suffer from that yet seemed devout to protect her, so she just deduced they suck, maybe not in such words, but that is what I typed. What I typed is law, I am the god of this fanfiction, your thoughts affect me not.

Anywhom, to Mora and Gyules. Mora was trying to get the computer working they found, currently tampering with the electronics and failing badly. Gyules approached her and then pulled her back from it.

"Don't do that."

"It's not working though."

"That is Osman's job and besides." Gyules walked around back and pulled out the plug.

"It was on. Make sure it is off before you tamper, you can electrocute yourself Mora."

"Sorry I never dealt with human technology, I merely high curious on this plan he had. He specifically ordered his troops to spare me. It caused the death of so many men and whatnot I am curious as to why he wanted so done."

"Did not think you a threat probably and he didn't exactly care for his men. Just fought for himself."

"Such an awful idea to only fight for one's self. Would make me feel hollow if that is what I purely fight for."

"That is what you fight for when you lack discipline and slash or you are in charge. Some people lead just so they can have power or just stay in power, or as Jacob did, for fun."

"Why does one need discipline to fight though? I lack discipline."

"You have discipline just not soldier discipline. Soldiers are toughened and with being tougher they become confident in their ability and learn to fight not only for themselves, but for the people around you and the people not going to shoot you."

"Meh, does not matter. At least I know I got you watching my back. I think wherever I go though you are gonna be there." Mora said standing up and smiling.

"Gotta watch your back cause others will watch your ass."

"Osman won't." Gyules smirked, she was getting humour a bit more and understanding them more.

"No, no he won't." he said laughing a little to himself and shaking his head.

"Been through a lot of shit Mora. Not as much shit as me and the others, but still plenty. You lost that thought process of being better than us for being Locust. Lost that real quick."

"I never believed it. Mother always shouted it and encouraged Locusts but from Karn's books it just seemed our species has different experiences. Even if your species created ours."

"Never told me you found that shit out."

"I dunno how you did!"

"The guys went to New Hope on one run for supplies from Conway. Heard rumours of the place from the Stranded that it's haunted with spirits of the dead. Found Wrteches a lot of larger creatures that seemed like proto Locusts. Dug through files and whatnot and found out about it. Took quite a bit of it and then Conway burned much of it. Claimed it would cause uproar and chaos among the men. Saved just that file and a few others. Did this while you were there for those three months."

"Three months of hell. Only talked to you guys and not even much. Everyone glared at me all the time there."

"It was a nice little gig, but yeah that place restricted us too much."

"Yeah..." There was an awkward moment of silence and then Mora had to break it.

"Do you think Mother...approves of you..."

"Approves? Hell no, she does not approve of any human. Tolerates, sure. Why do you ask?"

"Well...just...a bit curious. She has dealt with you and not killed you, let you actually get to be my guards though I do not believe Endeavor is entirely very safe, and..well...yeah. Just been doing a lot of thinking."

"I understand and I think tolerating is enough." he said "Never going to want to talk to her a lot or something, but as long as I make you happy she won't kill me."

"Guess you gotta keep me happy then."

"Was planning on it."

"We also have a special day coming up." she said "In three days it will be the anniversary of E-day and a new human year." Gyules smirked a little once more. E-day was specifically done after Mora's birthday, more than likely so it could be celebrated one last time before RAAM had to go off to more war. Or just a coincidence, didn't matter.

"Will be 17 A.E. Seventeen fucking years since your people invaded."

"I know, I was just a kid when it first started."

"So was I, and so were many others who are dead now."

"Time goes by so fast."

"Not when you are being shot at." Gyules sighed and wondered what the guys would find for a gift.

Elswhere, for Osman and Aiden, the Tempest was just landing at Endeavor, though just an hour later thanks to no having to check the other ships. Myrrah climbed out first.

"Do not shoot these two humans! They have willingly agreed to help us and even while a minor species, there is nothing wrong with accepting their aid." she stated, hoping that would pass, but really did want them killed. Course if that was the case Mora's birthday would be ruined and Mora herself could be put into danger. Didn't wanna admit it, but Mora was technically a weakness. Worked well to have her when she could be safe, but now no where was safe and, unlike Lambent, humans have the intelligence to use hostages.

Osman and Aiden got off, Osman falling down and right onto his helmet, Aiden landing fun and helping him up.

"Thank goodness I wear this." he said got up. The two looked about Endeavor. It was filled with Locusts. They were all walking about in proper, well maintained armour. They wield their Hammerbursts which were most in excellent condition. The Locusts were well fed and bore higher morale. One can tell about the morale due to that they are conversing more, they walk with their heads high and backs straight. They have kept up a well amount of supplies and such with Myrrah's guidance. Many Palace Guards and Therons were in the place, standing in defensive areas and above everyone, ready to strike with their Torque Bows whenever needed. The two observe them, different thoughts within their heads.

Aiden picking out how to counter each position and adding to his memory where they are, Osman just thinking the area is well defended. He was plotting a map and would begin to make the map in his head as they looked about the place. Obviously would not get it all in this trip, but would get as much as he can and if they ever need to, they could attack the place and have a higher chance of succeeding.

"Now where should we search?" Osman asked "And any recommendations. We have been with her for a while, but you know, there could be hidden little things that a mother may know about her that we do not exactly bear knowledge of."

"I highly recommend finding any source of knowledge for her as she is interested in books, there is a library you can check out as well."

"That works for me." said Osman.

"I will need you help for my gift in mind Osman."

"What exactly do you need for my daughter?"

"A Hammerburst I. The girl presents interest in them, she keeps one with her, but if my memory serves correct it is broken or very near breaking. I assume one should be in your armory."

"I will have you escorted to each location and give you supplies. Just do not use too much." Myrrah stated and walked off. A few minutes after she walked off two Palace Guards arrived to the Gears to escort them, a Reaver getting off in the distance as well and now flying to pick up Tanner and Ilian. The two men though are lead forward and past the well maintained buildings before they see the ocean. In the ocean of Endeavor many COG boats are sunk in the distance and sticking out of the water, rusted as hell. Various parts sticking out and if one gets near it can heard them creaking and such. About a half mile in front of them a stern sticking up collapses from the ship it's apart of and falls into the water, splashing it about and then slowly sinking into the ocean once more.

"Pretty." Osman commented before being lead to the left, Aiden the right. The Locusts shot dirty looks at the humans and some would growl, bearing weaponry or claws. Both appeared completely confident, though Osman only did thanks to his helmet. Nonetheless, the order and the guard protected them, the order quickly spreading amongst the Locusts. Osman was lead past several buildings and a bit farther until he got to a building dubbed: "Worker's quarters." Osman is lead inside, only to see the library is a bit exaggerated. It's a few shelves of ruined books and such. He walked over to one and pulled it out.

"The...proper ways to work a crane." he muttered the title and then put it back. He pulled out a few others only to find instruction books, or pornographic magazines with the pages stuck together. At this moment he planned to burn the gloves he was wearing now and possibly a layer of skin off of his hands.

"Is there a library in town?" he asked the Palace Guard. The guard shrugged and then was able to state: "Infection." in his harsh whispering voice Osman stepped out and looked tot he place, the Palace Guard also hissed: "Humans." He walked over a bit and then looked over to Halvo Bay farther off. Halvo Bay looked like it was fished outside of the Hollow and bumped along the edges at every given chance. Then someone just pressed an Imulsion Rig right into the center.

"They gotta be in that Rig. I will get Aiden, tell Myrrah to have the Reaver come here. We can try and find gifts there." Osman moreso just wanted to explore the ruins and at least see a fragment of Halvo Bay. Everyone wanted to visit the town, it was the place to go at the time. Sadly his family never got to travel there while he was with them. They were not allowed to go there. Was no specific rule stated, just whenever the caravan got near, the COG would force them to get out of the area and his father even was gun butted so hard his skull broke a little. Had to have it fixed, but he is fine now. Still alive as far as he knew.

Just as he had asked, soon Tanner, Ilian, and Aiden arrive.d. Mora and Gyules were in town as well, but instead Mora was looking about the place with Gyules. Myrrah arrived with them as well.

"Yo man, did the Locust fuck up communicating or do you really wanna go to Halvo Bay. I mean the place sure as fuck is still as beautiful as the day Karn attacked it and got his ass shot by one of the COG's biggest failures." Tanner commented "Yet this is just a gift for Mora, I dunno if we need to risk our lives."

"When else are you gonna get the chance to explore there. It would certainly find us a good gift keep her happy, let alone it would be nice to explore and search around."

"The place is highly dangerous especially for a human such as yourself. A three way war is waging in the area even as we speak."

"You got Locusts in there?" Gyules asked.

"No, the remnants of Karn's army resides in there. The Locusts swore to follow no other and therefore do not even follow my command or the command of any other. Whereas they will not attack me, I cannot make them not attack you. I would prefer if you didn't kill them."

"We can try our best not to."Osman stated "Might bear some difficulty, but we will see if we can sneak past them. We should probably search buildings that they may be inhabiting, but the humans might have everything we need."

"You can take a vehicle here to drive there. I do not usually trust the Locusts driving nor do they feel comfortable doing so." Considering when last week, Yinic tried to drive a car to get across Endeavor, only to crash a yard away.

"I can hotwire it." said Osman.

"Then get going, you do not have much time."

"We will get there in time." Aiden stated. The guys walked over to a parking lot and the Queen walked off to go tend to her daughter and arrange for decorations to be set up, a cake to be baked, preferably human flavoured. Not something Myrrah would wanna do or admit to wanting to do, but would enjoy watching the men freak out that they became cannibals. For now though, they drove to Halvo Bay, ready to search for a gift.

(Hey! Author's notes. Sorry this took a while, was trying to do a side series for everyone. Failed miserably. I just wish to note the end is near! We are at 3 more stories and the epilogue which will just be included in the final story. Metroid series is planned to come after wards.)

The End


	32. Chapter 32 Halvo Bay

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 32: Halvo Bay

Osman is driving the car into Halvo Bay currently. He is driving through the road, going past security once set up and slamming through a gate. There is driving past several defenses set up that lead to the town nearby. The Locusts specifically have a few buildings with troikas waiting with explosives scattered all about the road and area, but a clear path was ahead with minor damage. Overall, very little damage for the amount it was around and unattended to. There were scraps of building all about. Many were left standing but did not seem like they would be for long. The place clearly was once flooded, there was signs of water damage and things thrown upon the shore.

As the group entered the city, they could see vehicles and boats thrown towards the ocean. Many items that were nailed down such as certain mail boxes and signs, had just fallen or were pulled in a little, but clearly the ocean had come through here. The buildings were just rubble where they were at but ahead they were enormous. Osman was already gazing at them as if they were in they in their prime. He had never seen such immense structures his whole life. He nearly fainted upon seeing Jacinto and how large it was.

"Look at that shit guys!" he said as he drove, not paying attention to the road. Aiden, riding shotgun, grabbed the wheel and now was guiding the vehicle as Osman gazed upon them.

"How does one build something so tall? Seriously! It's beautiful...the design, the height! I can see so many windows, the view must be incredible!"

"Really never saw the city much?" asked Ilian.

"I used to live with a trading caravan. All we ever saw were small towns and forests and such. Never went to Halvo Bay! We gotta see the mansions next! They do have mansions right? I heard they did...at...umm-"

"Seahorse Hills." Tanner stated "Those should probably still be standing less the water took them. The mansions all had high tech security systems that were very advanced. So advanced that I remember Ezra Loomis originally didn't devote any troops to Seahorse Hills because the mansions fended off the Locusts. The Locusts broke in after a while, but for a fair amount of time, the wealthy didn't even realize there was a Locust Attack. No doubt people would settle there and maintain those."

"Dude...I wanna be rich and have a mansion like that."

"We will get a mansion and adopt you as our son." Ilian teased, but wouldn't mind adopting Osman even if he was in his twenties.

"I can live with that."

"Now who is this person for the 'our' you mentioned. I am not being a father to him! Nor are we a thing...or an item...or whatever the fuck is a term for a relationship!"

"Say whatever you want Tanner."

"Osman can yous tart driving now rather than I."

"Oh! Uh right!" Osman said and took the wheel, driving once more. Gunshots could be heard farther off, from around the corner. Osman drove the car forward and then they all looked to see a fight going on. Lambent are fighting the Locusts. The Lambent do not have any stalks present, seems like they are just lingering in the city, possible due to the large amount of imulsion brought by the rig. The Locusts are putting up one hell of a fight, mowing down Lambent, but it seemed as though they are trying to herd them somewhere. It is not going well though, the Lambent are not retreat for Lambent do not retreat.

"I see what she meant by the place is a warzone." Osman noted.

"Remember, we are on a time limit. Her birthday is tomorrow. Let's just find humans." Aiden commented.

"Drop Tanner and I at the church. We wanna visit." Ilian noted.

"What is this a joy ride!? Just drop us off..WE COULD GET KILLED! THEY COULD GET KILLED!"

"Let's just remember a little and find something there. We shouldn't be here too long and without traffic the city is easier to navigate, or at least should be. Just let Tanner drive he can get us there."

"I am not going to-" Ilian glared at him.

"When will we ever get another chance. Do it for me."

"That makes me wanna go even less."

"Probably makes you wanna go more." Osman noted, Aiden agreeing.

"I am not going-"

"I will drop you off there." Osman stated "Just start giving me directions."

"Got it." said Ilian.

"Where is duct tape when you need it."

"Save it for when we are alone." Everyone, save for Ilian, grows a little disgusted with that. They merely relax and she guides them as they drive. The group is driving through from the thicker streets far closer together, to the far more open, destroyed area of Halvo Bay. Tanner pouts a fair amount the whole trip as they went. The church was a tad bit farther from the human area than Osman enjoyed, specifically being in the far more barren flat area near Kilo (where the lightmass bomb hit). Most of the buildings were slanted in their foundation and reduced to rubble. Various things tumbled in the wind and it seemed as though absolutely nothing inhabited this area. The road rose and fell in various areas, often broken apart in many areas. They could hardly drive upon it and many time over in the route detours had to be made or Osman had to go off road. Yet soon they got there, Osman dropped off Ilian who dragged Tanner out.

"Alright I will pick you kids up in an hour or so. Have fun and remember!" Osman stated and dug through his pocket. He then pulled out a condom and threw it at them. Ilian caught it and Tanner recoiled back a bit annoyed. Osman began to laugh then.

"Safety first!"

"Where did you get that!?' shouted Tanner.

"It's empty, he just taped packaging together." Ilian noted as she looked it "Very well done." She throws it aside.

"I was saving that to freak out Tanner, k though we are just gonna rush over and get some gifts. What did you two wanna get Mora?"

"Brushes." Ilian stated "She needs a good brush for her hair."

"Sounds odd. Well see if you can get for me to her, a cannon. Bitches love cannons."

"No really."

"Some sort of jewelry I dunno what she likes!"

"Alrighty, we will trade for that. Have fun!" Osman closes the door and the APC moves off. The two watch it drive off and then up over a large ramp made from the rode just being warped up. The APC drives up it as if it is going to jump it, only to fall over and nearly get stuck. It manages to get by and the two drives off to the distance.

Ilian approached it, the church was a bit of a basic building. It bore an area in front leading to a Copper dome that bore a large hole in the ceiling. Beside the dome to the right was a collapsed section of the building, completely just crushed into rubbel. The place was simple and possibly once bore many decorations and such, but now it blended in with the rest of the destroyed buildings.

When the doors revealed the room by falling down, they could see the very basic interior. It had two rows of pews on the side, six each, though quite a few were wrecked. A large piece of the ceiling had fallen onto the pews on the right, crushing each of them through the center. On the left side in the center third the ground was broken and the pew was at an angle, broken in the center. Though even with this damage, all of the pews had worse damage in being rotten over time, wrecked by water damage. The religious books they once held were now a mass of paper filled with smudged ink. At the end of the pews was the main area for the priest and such, in a large shape and beneath the dome on the outside. Stained glass was once around the area, only now it was boarded up with a few areas where light peeked out, but the room was mostly lit by the large hole in the dome that shone into the room. To the left the wall was bulging and cracking in several areas. The rubble was digging in and trying to force it's way through, but had not even passed a door on the wall that was breaking in the center.

The piano though had it's pipes stolen for scrape and appears to have been smashed through and through by a nearby pipe still stuck in it. The insides were showing and the keys thrown about the ground. The Podium had been thrown aside and smashed as well. The walls, podium, and really everything but the boards had bullet holes in them and rusted bullet casing all about the ground. Save for these few things, it was a perfectly normal church.

"Hasn't changed a bit!" Tanner stated as he entered "So why are we here."

"To remember." she said "Remember the wedding we almost had!' she said.

"To guilt me more like."

"Oh just stop feeling guilty. Accept what you did and realize there is nothing you can do to undo such actions performed." she pointed out and then went to keep exploring the area. "Besides, this is the best place to talk about us."

"We are not together."

"Why not? Tanner you bear feelings, you do not wanna admit it, but you need me. You try and hide yourself with all of these jokes, but you regret much of your life."

"That is-"

"That is true, you regret fighting for so long, though it makes for many stories. You feel like at your age you need to settle down and I shall be providing that! We are not too old for such things, or at least I am not. Tanner, this war is coming to an end soon, I can feel it, everyone can feel it, something big is going to happen and this will not last more than 17 years." Tanner sighed and looked over to her.

"I am fine like this, I am happ-"

"Quit lying. You are the least happy of all of the squad." Tanner attempts to refuse the statement several more times, starting to say something, but Ilian stops him by saying: "Lies." Soon he just sighs and falls back onto the bench.

"I really didn't wanna be known as someone for being emotional and whatnot!" he said, facepalming and leaning back against the pew. The back of it breaks and he falls down onto the ground. Ilian then crawls over on top of him and has her face right by his.

"I am going to make you relax and I am going to give you the chance to settle down and be happy. I promise just a bit more fighting and we shall settle down. Whether it be in one of the villages, or with the end of the war."

"I...I would like that." Tanner muttered.

"Now put a baby in me."

"WHAT!?"

"I tease. Do you not understand that was a joke? Logically that would not be wise in such a dangerous area where Locusts or Lambent can attack at any moment." she said, sitting up. She just sat upon his waist and began pointing out more details.

"Then this is a pretty filthy area, if I am to do any sort of thing it is to be in a cleaner area. Who knows also what Stranded have done here, or gay Locusts. Obviously not straight or lesbian since the Berskers would have-"

"I do not want this image, just enough! I am being bent by my armour and we already resolved such things! So let's just stay here and rest up a bit, maybe talk since we just gotta wait for Osman and Aiden.

Meanwhile those two are on their own super fun adventure, driving through the broken streets back to the center of town back where Locusts were fighting. Human forces were fighting them off best, they could, but the Locusts were advancing forward and trying to flush them into the buildings and such. Most of the groups had retreated into the building, but as they drove around, they noticed one set of human forces still on the ground. With that, the two parked the APC.

"Gonna help them?" Aiden asked.

"Of course, we can handle those Locusts."

"And if reinforcements come?"

"We kill them."

"You are unusually cocky."

"Eh, I dunno...I feel like we can do this."

"Well that is a good feeling, let's kill them!" Aiden opened the back door and then came rushing out to Locusts there, firing his boomshot into their forces before getting into cover. Osman stood in the APC and popped out to shoot at Locusts. The APC was parked behind the Locusts lines, as there were as moderate amount there, but not a vastly large amount. Quite a few Locust corpses suggested the humans were doing well at killing them.

Osman soon rushed into cover with Aiden, behind a barricade set up with rubble by the Locusts. Aiden popped out of cover and shot a Locust's head off. Specifically the top of his head came off with part of his brain, his body staying still for a while, then falling over dead. A Grenadier rushed to cover and was about to fire his Gnasher at them. Osman pulled out his knife and then got up and slammed it into the Locust's throat. The Locust struggled a little and then Osman took out his Lancer and began shooting at more Locusts.

It would not be long before the group was wiped out and the two met with the human survivors. The humans consisted of many groups. Gorasni, Tyran, Pesang, practically one of everyone. A Gorasni leader walked over to them, other men cleaning up their corpses which seemed to be plenty.

"Thank goodness you commandos showed up. We were practically done for." the man stated "We could really use your help right now. We need to get everyone out of here ASAP, just out of the Imulsion platform!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"What do you think, It's an Imulsion rig! The thing is filled with Imulsion. The imulsion inside is producing fumes for some odd reason now. It's lethal, we already lost several good people from just traversing inside. The imulsion is starting to leak from it so the Locusts might have learned of the vast amount of it inside and wanna force us in. We already sent off all of our choppers with the women, children, and a few armed men, now we just gotta get everyone else out."

"If you are truly correct and they are trying to just force you in, get in." said Aiden "Do as they say and then start getting out of here through this spot. Start sending people out in groups to seahorse hills but not too many together or else explosives will be used to scatter them and they will be lost." Those were the most words anyone had heard come from Aiden talking.

"Rally the few men most fit for combat to be on lookout, if possible get a few snipers higher up to start watching the area in case Locusts come. We will also be on watch and ready to assault them if need be. Can take our APC to the area, would offer it to you but it cannot carry enough men and trips round and back would take too long, can use it as cover instead from the side opposite of where they will be going."

"Sounds good to me, I dunno what I am doing. I will just go tell them to come our way." Aiden runs to the APC and then begins driving it in place. He bears a bit of trouble, but soon it is in it's spot, right in the spot needed.

"We will guard this area and then the men should be aware for if anyone comes from the other way!" Aiden shouted to them. The guys nodded and soon people began coming out of the facility. Person after person came out and once they got into a set group ranging from four to nine, the people would start running together and out to Seahorse Hills, though it was far off. Locusts ended up not arriving but merely left when the humans left, presuming them dead and had lost many men in the attack so they could not keep it up. It actually ended up going quicker than expected and I also just do not feel like typing out that big fight.

At Seahorse Hills had become a husk of the glory it once was. It was gated off by large walls just like the previous town they were at, defensive units put up that the houses had once used. Sentry units, laser gates, Automatic AA guns, ones that used rockets and others that used bullets, and all sorts of complex and expensive devices. Some of which the COG wished it had. The soldiers were well fed and varied o how armed they were. Some held old antique guns that may have once been placed on a mantle of sort, others bore multiple weapons and were armed to the teeth. The two drove in to see a large roundabout with an old fountain in the center, depicting a COG that once had water shooting from each bump in in circle of it. The fountain was without water, but surrounded it were six parked Ravens. Mostly in great condition, but one was a bit different. It lacked any outer body and had the actual mechanisms for how it ran completely exposed. The soldiers were exposed and the pilot was only protected by the controls about him. Still had turrets though.

The mansions were fairly well kept, but all of the glass was broken and the painting had faded. They merely had been kept up with being stable and bearing a comfortable inside.

"This place is nice." Osman noted as they entered and parked into a spare area. The two walked out and were greeted by a Gorasni man with gray hair. He had a neatly trimmed beard and deep brown eyes that seemed to show he was a man of respect. He bore simple body armour on with a black shirt underneath and black pants. He had a Gorgon Sub Machine gun on his belt. He stretched a gloved hand to Aiden. Aiden shook his hand and then Osman did as well.

"So glad you could help my men get out of there. We lost many in the fighting, but at least we got some help. Please, tell me what brings you to Halvo Bay."

"We are here to seek gifts for a friend's birthday."

"You still perform the luxury of gift giving?" he laughed and sat down on the ground. Aiden and Osman soon joined him upon the ground.

"This is probably the best place to. The Locusts did not try and destroy too many possessions, but killed many of the rich in Halvo Bay. We do have items we can give in exchange for helping my men and getting them out."

"We couldn't get them all, but we would be most grateful, we have a list actually." Aiden pulled out of his pocket a list he wrote down of the gifts they plan to get. He began to unfold it and in that time Osman had to ask.

"So you are the leader?"

"Temporary leader, our actual leader is out. You might have heard of the man, he helped killed Karn after all."

"Dunno much on that, I wasn't enlisted then." Osman pulled off his helmet.

"I at least hope you can tell I am too young to have been enlisted then."

"Oh, yeah I see. He is Garron Padduk. His girlfriend though was recently captured by some Former Gears and he went out after them. We expect for him to return sometime soon, but sadly he could not lead us in this fight. It is him who founded our group."

"This group is?"

"We have no name, we are just those who control Halvo Bay, a group accepting anyone who is willing to work, not caring for race or sides."

"I got our list when you are done talking." Aiden stated holding it up.

"Oh yes the list." The older man snatched it from Aiden's hands and then looked it over.

"Let's see, we certainly can provide an original Hammerburst. Karn left behind a few of them and we use them, but not so much as some men have become cocky and wanna use those older guns, and others do not feel too comfortable using Locust guns. Have a few items of jewelry but not too much, can show you what we got. Also gotta show you the library then and I can send a man to bring you a brush. May not be the best, but they will be fine. I assume these are for a girl? Is it a girl for this young guy?"

"I like guys..." Osman muttered softly.

"Oh, you two are like that, traveling with a girl?" Osman blushed instantly. Aiden began laughing.

"No no! Nothing like that! It seems offensive to assume actually. Osman is single and we travel with our old Gear Squad. We got four other members in the city actually doing their own thing. We gotta pick them up in a bit and prepare for the celebration.

They went through the items and grabbed them, then picked up Tanner and Ilian and drove their way back by sunset. Very few troubles, Halvo Bay was not a very dangerous city for them as long as you got a large vehicle and the Locusts were fighting someone else. They parked the vehicle where it once was there and soon met with Gyules of whom was merely sitting on the edge of the harbour.

"Got the gifts?"

"All right here and ready!" said Tanner "We put them in boxen since we couldn't get wrapping paper."

"You mean boxes."

"No your language sucks, I think if the plural form of Ox is Oxen, then Box should be Boxen. Besides inflammable and flammable mean the same thing, and Pussy and Pussy are spelled the same way. Wait they won't get that it's written. If one has a wound full of puss, a pussy wound, that word is spelled the same as Pussy, like a cat."

"Okay then..." Gyules stated "Don't act like that around the Queen...I don't want her hating humanity more. Aiden go prepare the cake and we shall celebrate it."

"Only next story since this one is so delayed. Sorry Folks!"

The end


	33. Chapter 33 Party

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 33: Party

Aiden had entered the kitchen and began working on the cake, though Ooor insisted to help. By help, I mean he wants to ruin all of Aiden's work with the cake and make it himself. He had been arguing with him that he could just make his own, but that Aiden wanted her to get in touch with a piece of human culture. Claimed that while she should embrace her own culture, she needed to become a bit cosmopolitan and try to learn of other cultures at least. Hence show her a birthday celebration human way. The cooking incident would get bad when Ooor smashed the cake and now the two were sitting before her in her office, both of them covered with frosting and bits of cake, Ooor currently shouting much at her about Aiden's cake, though most of it was hard to understand for even the wise Aiden. Myrrah was highly annoyed and felt like she was dealing with children in this incident.

"Let us mix it then. It will be part of the gift from the humans, their area of celebration. With this, cake, of theirs." Course she knew what cake was, Myrrah had to make it sound foreign as most Locusts do not know of her past with humans and whom they once were. Best they didn't.

"They bring whatever they want as long as long as it is appropriate and not meant to manipulate my daughter, and you prepare whatever we have supplies for. Use the best, but not waste too much." Aiden nodded. With that Aiden got up and walked out to prepare the cake, using what little frosting they had left. Ooor would go to prepare the Locust way of celebration, which wasn't too grand, but it was there. Myrrah decided to get up to walk a little, felt a bit nice to walk about in her age.

She still was fairly felt and did what she could to remain in shape, let alone her mutations gave her longevity, but age is still affecting her a bit. Sometimes just woke up with a random limb hurting and a few times she would notice a new wrinkle on her face. While she did not have much need for her own appearance, she still enjoyed looking nice and young. Everyone wants to look nice even if they have no one to show it too. She knew her people didn't care, they loved her no matter what, but still. Was at least glad she wasn't starting to wrinkle badly or anything, she did not wanna get to that point in life.

She walked downstairs to find an old computer terminal had been set up. Osman was doing work on it while Mora and Gyules watched. Gyules held a disc in his hand.

"Sure you fix it?"

"It's nearly done actually. Didn't need a boat computer after all." he stated and then stuck in his normal arm to fix a wire. He began to tumble with some wires and soon he was being electrocuted. Osman began to shake from the electricity entering his body, unable to pull his hand away as it shot through his whole system, making it's way like a circuit.

"Osman!" shouted Mora and grabbed him.

"Mora!" Gyules grabbed Mora and now the electricity flowed through the three idiots. Yes, they are idiots. Myrrah looked at this with surprise and rushed to the device, using her actual intelligence to unplug it. The three of them had their faces burnt a bit black and steam coming from them.

"Ow... thanks Mother." Myrrah shot her a glare.

"Do not do something so stupid again."

"I won't.."

"Good, now what is it you are trying to do?"

"We are going to find out what is on this disc." Gyules stated holding it up "It contains info by the man who made your daughter a cyclops. He claimed to have some sort of big plan for her and we wanna find out."Osman got the wire together and then he went back and plugged it in, muttering that he should have unplugged it before. He then turned it on and the screen flashed on.

"Perfect! Hand me the disc." he said and put his hand out for her. Instead Gyules just put in the slit.

"That too..." Osman began tying on the computer and activated it. The group crowded around, Myrrah joining in.

Jacob was on the screen adjusting a camera. He muttered a few things and then stepped back. He didn't have his beard and his hair was shorter.

"Perfecto! The camera is alive and I am here to confirm this shit. Seriously, fuckin awesome shit. Shit to be fighting for man! SHIT TO LIVE FOR!" he said pacing back and forth in a gray room. He then reached off camera and pulled into his view a heavily beaten and bleeding Onyx Guard.

The Onyx Guard had a spear stabbed through his wrists, left shoulder, and legs pinning him to the chair. His face was beaten bleeding with blood having poured down plenty of it. His teeth were mostly gone, one of his ears and one of his eyes were removed. The other eye was swollen shut from bruises. His skin that is visible showed awful wounds, from knife scratches, to bullet holes, to even a few signs that someone tried to dig in and grab his bones.

"This fucker, I call him Pedro. Wave to the camera Pedro!" Pedro sobbed.

"F-fuck you!"

"Oh, you were far less tougher before" he said gripping Pedro's job. Though Pedro is not his name. He then threw his head with his hand harshly.

"Anyways, this fuck told me of something big. Something huge. The COG has a base still in existent. A base free from the Lambent, from the Locusts, and every other thing. I can hardly believe it...but let me tell the story this fuck told me. Hold on first." Jacob took out his boltok and blew out Pedro's brains. He then began pacing back and forth talking.

"It's called Azura. I have noticed Ravens flying by lately. Fucking Ravens. Those things practically went extinct when the COG went down, but these were like brand new. My snipers watched them and observed this through their scopes. We followed them, watched the Ravens until we caught one. Overpowered the guards, tortured Pedro. Let him have an hour with Big Richard and yeah...he began talking...I should have made a joke on that earlier. FUCK! Yet anywhom, this fuck confessed it. COG is conducting research on the place and we found documents in the Raven even." He held up a packet of papers.

"This is a list of items to be brought t the area as requested by one Adam Fenix!" Myrrah's eyes widened a bit at the mention of this, she could hardly believe it. She didn't express it, but she knew she had to get t this island. She had to find Adam, see if he was alive. Oh hopefully he was alive she even ordered for his capture. Wanted to give him all the resources he could to defeat the Lambent. Yet his damned son went and fought them. Fucking Marcus Fenix, the bane of the Locusts.

"Inventor of the Lancer and Hammer of Dawn, alive and there probably. Papers can't be old enough for this to be old. Let alone Pedro confirmed it. They are making a neutron bomb to kill all the Lambent, and it should kill the Locusts. I am going to take this device for me, as long as I can get troops in I can probably kill the Onyx guard. I got so much info on this I am just ready to explode! I even know where it is now. Gonna see if I can get my new Raven in at the coordinates. Told me it's surrounded by a makeshift hurricane so it cannot be missed. They can like...turn this on and off. I am having trouble believing this, but gonna test it." The scene then shows Jacob turning it off. Then it shows him again once more, a bit older and with his appearance they remember. Mora looked at his hair length, and remembered when he cut her hair short. Not a good time, she had it long once more and loved it like so. Course then she began getting on subject like I should!

"It failed. It fucking failed." he said "Guys got in, made radio contact, then they got killed once they got some info. The storm is swirling things up underwater, but not wholly present there. It's the only way in." he said "and the Locust own the only port, but I found out of something good. Supposedly there is a rumour Myrrah has a daughter. These war fanatics sent me a message and offered her to me if I spread war. Yeah I know, crazy shit to wanna start war? Yet he wanted it done!" It then skipped over to another time with Jacob and he was in the same room Mora had killed him in. He seemed excited and his eyes were a bit bloodshot. He kept wiping his nose with his sleeve before he began talking, indicating he had been taking drugs of some sort.

"Oh fuckin goodness life is getting exciting again! The bitch is real! Moragna, Princess Moragna, daughter of the Bitch Queen Myrrah!" Myrrah seemed quite unamused with him calling her such a title.

"She is being guarded by some stupid Gears, this one old bald guy, cannon fodder, her boyfriend, and an islander. Fucks I could kill easy and take her. Hell they let me cut her hair, I sort of did well, but I got it done. She is quite attractive, I would really love to shove it inside of her cunt, which I plan to! " This had Myrrah shocked and almost angry. "This would be lovely, yes I could...but I gotta make this fun. I gotta, I gotta, I GOTTA SAVOUR THIS SHIT! Not that I would eat shit...it would taste awful. But yeah, yeah yeah yaeh! SHIT YEAH SHE IS ALIVE AND I AM GOING TO USE HER! I capture that bitch, I hold her hostage and threaten the Queen and I take the Queen in negotiations, or I, I fuckin just kill her. That or the daughter will work, but either way I will be able to control the Locusts through this girl! She is the key to controlling them. I can have boats made then." He began pacing back and forth as he talked of this plan.

"If they do not already have them. I can send several Locusts underneath the hurricane, can maybe see if there is a submarine in the dockyards near Halvo Bay. Get their hurricane off, storm the place, kill the security and force a large portion of the Locusts to kill themselves for the Queen, could do that hopefully, yes! Then I kill the Queen and I keep Moragna as a sex slave or some sort of shit, live as a god in that COG capital island, Azura! It's fuckin perfect! Now I just gotta have fun capturing her and get away with it...I want this to be like some sort of story. Yes...it has to be perfect, but of course I gotta continue my normal time of taking over towns. I dunno when I can see the Queen and I gotta find some fucking civilized Locusts. Not those damned savages, those civ-civilized Locusts! The ones with armour and Hammerbursts, the ones that suck dick! Yeah...so I am gonna still destroy the fucking town, make sure I capture her in a story fun way, that also keeps the troops loyal, wipe out local Savage Locusts and go to Azura. Oh yeah Azura has that device to kill the Lambent, I should activate threat. Then maybe I can be made humanity's leader..." It ended there and there was not another recording.

"So he wanted to capture Mother and I...to control the Locusts and attack Azura? Wait what's Azura?"

"He said it's surrounded by a hurricane, more than likely it's an island. Wait how could there be an Onyx Guard? The COG disbanded?" Myrrah and Mora seemed to be interested in this. The two looked over.

"What do you mean, the COG disbanded?" Mora asked "You never told me this. I mean you said you weren't affiliated, but they are gone? How do you know?"

"Our base used to have radio contact with them." Gyules admitted, feeling a bit reluctant to tell the enemy this, but was confident it could be no harm "We lost radio contact a month before you came, but things were always patchy. We found that many of the survivors from Jacinto had gone to the Port Farrel, but then to the Island of Vectes. Claimed the place was good, offered to pick up our people, but we told them that we were too far from there. Soon though they began reporting some of the first Lambent attacks and we began to have minor attacks shortly after. They then had Stranded troubles and eventually Prescott and Hoffman left the base and the COG stated they were gone. Last we heard most of the former COG was on the CNV Sovereign, while others had set up camps on the mainlands, joined Hoffman, but none had seen Prescott. This might be where he went." Gyules was the scratching the back of his neck as he admitted this, but then hoped they would be satisfied.

"You never told me this!?" Mora stated.

"Never came up. What matters though, is that since he found an Onyx Guard that he found in a Raven, it came from somewhere the COG is and they are working on something." Gyules stated.

"How can we trust him?" Osman asked.

"This was a personal disc, no way he would lie on it. Besides, a boat can always be sent out to check, if the Queen is willing. A hurricane should be very visible." They all looked to her, sort of expecting her to say yes. Myrrah looked back to them and then began walking out.

"I will have the boats sent to investigate." she stated and walked out. Myrrah was not going to do this for the humans or even for her daughter, she had to see if Adam was alive and had the weapon to kill the Lambent. She had more hope than she normally would about this device if it's Adam making it. Adam Fenix was the greatest mind the humans ever had. He invented the Lancer, the Hammer of Dawn, and countless other things, and back when he was helping the Locusts, Adam was the only person she could call a friend.

Around Adam Myrrah let her hair down and was able to ease up. She didn't need to prove anything to him, because one didn't need to act any way around him. He respected you as long as you deserved respect. He was completely willing to help the Locusts and be discrete about it. Out of everyone she tried to turn to for help, Adam was the only one who was willing to even hear her out and then decided to help. She sort of abused him for it, not physical abuse, but Myrrah yelled at him and threatened war with humanity. She was desperate to get rid of the Lambent and even then attacked the humans, which just made everyone weaker. She still stuck by her decision to go to war with the humans, peace would have never worked with the whole population, they would never accept the Locusts and now the Locusts would never accept them. She soon approached Locusts by the docks, told them of a hurricane out in the ocean that won't be moving, that they needed to take boats and possibly one of the small subs they learned to use, and figure out a way past it. Once that is discovered, return here, and do not show any sign you were there. The Locusts found it odd, but agreed and went back. Myrrah began ordering others to prepare to mobilize and have things ready and fix the larger boats to carry their few Brumaks. She wanted to be ready to take this place if it exists. Meanwhile they prepared that, she went to continue with the party among the Locusts.

Back with Omega, Gyules, Osman, and Mora would be discussing what they saw.

"Did it bother you at all to see him again?" Gyules asked, referring to the both of them."

"No, but it did remind me why I wanna stay away from mortars and unstable buildings."

"He is dead, his image should not bother me. Not like he killed anyone I knew well. Just reminds me that you were the damsel in distress."

"I am not a damsel...that requires female genitalia." Gyules noted, trying to use humour to ease off of that. He was embarrassed of such an event. Too bad it was really bad humour, if humour at all.

"At least I saved you." Mora stated, feeling quite proud and pleased."

"And how many times have we saved you?"

"A few."

"Yeah..." Osman got up and stretched a little. "I am gonna go help Aiden, you two can discuss your love and this whole ordeal and shit...yeah..." Gyules sighed and didn't even bother. Mora seemed to blush a bit, which Gyules noticed and found a bit odd. She never reacted much when they were bothered on a relationship, but Mora did act a little bit different when they were alone. She did try and avoid him when the guys were in Halvo Bay. This didn't work well for Gyules when many Locusts brought out guns to aim at him ready to kill him if Myrrah hadn't reluctantly told them not to. Course he did end up having one incident where a Locust did fire gunshots and Myrrah really seemed to want to let him get shot, but she cares about her daughter's happiness more. Mora would be pissed at Myrrah if she caused their deaths.

"Something wrong?" Gyules asked. Mora seemed a bit startled and jumped when he talked to her.

"What!? No! No I am fine, I just have been...thinking a lot. About us."

"What about us?"

"Just...err..." Mora seemed quite nervous and began to two of her fingers together, not quite looking Gyules in the eyes.

"Oh I feel too cliché and weird! It's bothering me, I feel odd in my head!" she said and starting to walk about "Things just feel wrong and off putting, that I am doing something different than how my life was! That I keep thinking of you and how you have been so nice to me! Maybe it's because of communication, but then I also appreciate it a lot more, because I know you are being nice to me because of who I am! It's not because I am related to you or because I am your princess, it's because you were willing to listen and get to know me. You though, while you did act harsh, you really got adjusted and tried to protect me. Its the end of the damned world and I am a cyclops, but for some reason I am so happy, but yet I feel like I shouldn't be. Oh I am just getting bothered and now I feel bad because I feel like these are my problems, personal problems with that person." Gyules listened to her every word and smiled a bit.

"Come over here Mora." he said and she slowly walked over, still blushing. Once she was close enough he pulled her in and hugged her. She seemed surprised quite a bit.

"If you ever need to confess or tell me anything Mora, you can do so. Do not keep all of these mental problems to me. I am not going to judge you for anything wrong or odd you think of. 'You...you are special to me." he said, blushing a bit himself, but then just smiled. Mora was listening to him and would then slowly wrap her arms around him and nuzzled his armour a bit.

"Thank you." she said nuzzling him. He smiled and held her there for a bit, then let her go. "Now you still uncomfortable around me?"

"Maybe a little." she teased. She still did have thoughts about him and such that bothered her, but she wanted to talk these over with him. Maybe later when she thought them out more and tried to understand them. Gyules let her go and then sat down.

"Wish to start talking? If not I gotta go gather the guys and make sure Tanner is alive. I haven't seen him all day."

"You...you can go check on Tanner, yes." Gyules smiled and then he ruffled her hair a bit. Mora gave him an odd look and he ran off. Gyules did wanna check on them, but he also wanted to help with the party which would occur the next day. He spent much of the time helping decorate the room, keeping Mora away from it, and wrapping gifts because it was too complex for the rest of Omega. Gyules later did encounter Ilian and Tanner. He was scarred mentally for life.

The next day Mora awoke a bit early in her provided room. She had gone to sleep in her underwear in the same building as her mother. Omega had to sleep in tents outside of the building, dealing with the warm summer outside. Mora got up and sat in her bed, only in her bra and underwear. It was too early to get up, but she was unable to sleep anymore. The left side of her body hurt a little bit as she slept on there, and just sometimes she woke up and things hurt. Normal thing, just moved her body quite a bit and stood up. She walked around a little and towards a closet. Just as she went for the closet, the door opened and Gyules poked his head in. "Hey"

"OH SHIT!" she shouted and rushed to cover herself, startled. Gyules fell back startled a little and then just remained in the hallway. "When you are dressed, that I should've considered, follow me I got something I have to show you."

"Uhh...o-okay!" Mora stammered.

"I will knock next time." Gyules said apologetically. Mora got up and now was wondering what the surprise was. As she awoke more she noticed it was unusually quiet. Usually it was at least a little bit loud with people working and such. She shrugged it off as she got dressed in her armour attire. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but with mother around she had to. She wished that just maybe...it was a bit looser? Would that word work? She wanted it to not be so tight on her body, but it didn't matter. Mora got dressed and then stepped out.

"Where are we going?"

"Gotta show ya something." he said as he began to walk out. Gyules did his best to not smirk or spoil anything. He did this...but appearing stern and remembering his times with his Grandmama. The world has never known such a bitter women as his Grandmama. She makes Myrrah look like Mora.

"What is it?"

"You gotta see!"

"You can tell me you know."

"I lack the physical abilities to remotely describe what it is."

"Well then." Mora would become quiet as they began to exit the building, but would end up asking once more and Gyules just denied her of the knowledge in the same way. By the time they were there she was very curious. They specifically arrived before a very large hangar where they used to keep larger aircrafts and such.

"Are you gonna teach me to fly?" she asked. Gyules held the door handle and paused for a bit, a quick image in his mind of them running from the wreckage of a downed Raven and for some reason it's snowing. Sirens are going off in this image as Mora and his own flesh melt off. Tanner walked by even and pointed, saying: "I told you so."

"Never." Gyules opened the door and turned on the lights. The large lights in the hangar turned on, one by one, but by the first light the group exposed themselves. Only the humans said surprise. They specifically had several tables set up, one table had many gifts wrapped in whatever could be used to wrap something, while another table in the center bore the human cake. Myrrah stood behind it and whispered to Ooor about their treat. Ooor demonstrated with his hands a sort of explosion. Myrrah seemed a bit annoyed with that...but also not surprised.

"Happy Birthday Mora." Mora was surprised and looked about.

"What!? You didn't have to, times are tough."

"Just because times are tough doesn't mean we can't celebrate."

"C'mon, we got cake." he said and she walked over to the cake on the cable. It was a bigger rectangular cake that had white on it and red trim. The words: "Happy Birthday Moragna" were written in red as well. Aiden had done all of the work himself and made it vanilla cake. Only material they had. They had to check with Myrrah to confirm the age, but due to a lack of candles they only put in five. Mora was actually only twenty four.

They shut off the main light once more, feeling like it was a bit pointless to turn them on then, but nonetheless they were there. Mora smiled and now they all began singing the human birthday song, since the Locusts didn't have any and Myrrah still remembered when her birthday was celebrated by the humans. That was much of the reason why she was doing this. Myrrah couldn't help but smile in joy for her daughter as they sang, not singing herself. The locusts bore some trouble as human speech is difficult for them but they tried. To Omega, they wish they were deaf, Mora appreciated the effort. Once they finished Tanner said quickly: "Make a wish and blow out the candles." Mora thought for a bit and then blew out the candles, managing to blow them all out.

"Tell that wish to no one or else it won't come true." Tanner noted.

"Alright now...how to cut up the cake so everyone gets a slice..." Gyules wondered. They began counting and while they were counting, Mora cut herself a corner piece and put it upon a plate. "Have at it!" she said. Soon the humans and even Myrrah herself were being swarmed by the hungry Locusts, digging at the cake and pulling out whatever handfuls they could to eat. It was a pure mess of flesh digging at whatever they could to get the cake. By the time the horde stopped digging in, the plate itself had several large bite marks and claw marks in it, and everyone was a bit roughed up. Most of the Locusts had frosting on their hands and around their mouths. Myrrah stood up, appearing annoyed and looked at them.

"Are you done acting as savages?" she scolded, the Locusts lowering their heads in disappointment. A Kantus would lick his claws a bit as he looked down in shame. A few of them began to and Myrrah shook her head annoyed with them. She sighed and looked over to Mora.

"Gifts have also been prepared for this occasion."

"May I open them when my cake is finished?" she asked.

"You may do as you like, this is your day." she stated and Mora smiled, still eating her cake. Gyules sighed and then sat back. Mora finished her cake in a bit and then approached the gift table. She had quite a few gifts, but not one from every Locust. Myrrah did not require they bring gifts since not all Locusts actually had enough items to give her something. Soon though Mora began to open gifts and while she did that, a Locust came in and approached Myrrah. He began to whisper something to her and she had a devilish grin. She then whispered to him, something and the Locust nodded, taking a few others from the party and leaving.

Mora tore off the flimsy wrapping around a box and then opened the box. Inside she pulled out an intact, Hammerbust I. Full clip, completely burnished, and bearing fresh parts. It looked brand new and even had an added feature of an iron sight that could be flipped up or down.

"Whoa, yes! I won't have one that breaks on me." she said "Who got this?"

"I did." Aiden stated smiling, raising his hand a little.

"This is going to be great."

"I even stole some of Tanner's gorgon pistol clips and put them in the box." Tanner then checked his ammo belt and saw he had none.

"Well great." he said "Give a-" Before he could continue Ilian slapped him in the back of the head. "Be respectful and kind to the Locusts sweetie."

"Oh...yeah...that wouldn't be wise." Myrrah handed Mora her gift, which was a it large, flat for how large it was, and rectangular. She then looked it over and tore the paper off of it. With that she saw it was book.

"I found that a few days before Hollow Storm and never had the chance to give it to you. It's RAAM's book of strategies." She opened it up and Mora began digging through the pages, looking over everything.

"Oh wow." she said and kept digging until she found the page dubbed: "Surface Attack". It was it's own section, detailing E-Day that RAAM planned out. He had drawn out how the Locusts suspected the surface, where cities were located prior to their tunnels, how much they would have to dig. Estimated human resistance in the area, it took up multiple pages and she could see many times he crossed out numbers of estimation or crossed out where a city was. There was extensive planning and such, she wanted to read it now, but had more to open.

"Well, now mine doesn't compare." Tanner said handing her his. It was just in a ox and when she opened it she saw it was a ruby ring. A simple ring, but it had a large gem that could be valued at a lot.

"I thought it was a good ring for punching people with."

"I still appreciate it Tanner."

"Eh I suck with gifts!" he said waving it off, justifying it with that excuse. Ilian gifts came next and hid no questions as to what it was...because it was a brush with a bow tied from string on it.

"I have been needing this."

Osman's came next and she opened it up to find it was a book. A book entitled: Sociology: How to become Queen/King by Manipulation.

"The title made it seem like a great gift."

"It should be fascinating to read." she laughed. Gyules came next before she would go to the Locust's gifts. His was in a little box like Tanner's. Wrapped up though. She opened it quickly. Inside were his COG tags.

"I have had those since I first joined the COG. They've been very important to me and I want you to have them. I think it's emotional...or something. I am just trying to be sentimental and that is the only object I have really kept with me for a long time" he stated, not entirely sure of how to explain it. It felt a bit silly just giving her his COG tags, the COG wasn't even around, but he wanted to do something sort of special like that. He expected for it to just be thanked and passed up, only she instead wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Thank you." she said. Myrrah glared at the two, plotting out the assassination of the human if he defiles her daughter.

Mora would then have to open up the gifts of the other Locusts. They just got her very simple things and she still thanked each one. The rest of the party just consisted of some mingling and Tanner attempting to introduce Mora to alcohol. It failed and one does not wanna see the attempts. The party ended after a while and the guys returned to their tent. Myrrah had to talk to Mora though after the party.

"Moragna, I need you to start packing your gifts and anything of use. We shall be leaving."

"Leaving? Wait do you mean you found Azura? I will tell-"

"They are not coming with. We are going to be taking Azura and defeating the human's last refuge, taking it for ourselves. If this device is real also, we must force them to put all resources into it."

"What?! Wait why won't we bring them?"

"They will not turn against their own species, they will turn against us. I would prefer we keep our combat to Azura and not to any other humans. We must not waste the resources and possible soldiers."

"I am sure I can-"

"No Moragna. Now get to your room, we leave in the morning." she stated "The humans will be forced out, but will be treated like enemies if they come into contact with Locusts ever again." she commanded, now walking out of the building. She exited to her own room and Mora gathered her gifts best she could. She ended up requesting from a nearby Locust some help. With his help the managed to get everything into her room. Mora did not go to bed though.

She laid there and waited. She waited for a few hours, listening to her mother's room for signs of movement. Her mother doesn't snore, but she moves a lot to get comfortable. She waited until she was sure she was asleep, now getting up. Tonight was the night. She was nervous, nervous about being caught and nervous about what she was to do. She kept thinking it over, what to say if she is caught and what to say on what she is to do. She knew she would just mix up the words and kept trying not to plan it out, but she just couldn't help it. It excited and terrified her at the same time. Soon enough though, she got up and began to tip toe out of her room.

She slowly made her way to avoid any squeaky boards or bumping into any objects. She would sometimes squeak a board a little, but she would quickly get off and just get away. Hopefully her mum didn't awake. Soon enough she was on the stairs and making her way down. She was nearly in the clear! Just had to keep stepping down, further, and further until eventually she got to the door and opened it. Now that is the clear!

Mora rushed out and now was running to the tents. She went to look for the tents which were at a different building. She began to look through them, finding Tanner and Ilian's first. Those two had fallen asleep holding each other. She knew they would get together sometime. Next had Osman of whom fell asleep with a magazine entitled: "PlayWoman". She feared what was in there and then checked the next to find the tent she wanted, Klaus Gyules.

"Hey..." she whispered. He didn't wake up and so she crawled in, nudging him a bit.

"Listen." Gyules waved his arm away a bit, but then another nudge and he was slowly awakening.

"Huh...Mora? What is it?" he asked and then slowly moved about a bit. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, pulling sand out of spots of it.

"I just uh...I uh..." Mora poked two of her fingers, blushing madly "I needed to confess something. It just feels...it feels wrong to confess, but..." Gyules sighed and pulled himself up, sighing a bit and then making her look at him.

"Mora...you can tell me whatever you need to." She looked at his face and then away, but he adjusted her. She took a deep breath and finally said it.

"I think I love you." He smiled to her and before she could say anything else he brought her face to his, kissing her passionately. Mora seemed surprised, at first thinking of this as some sort of act of hostility, then she remembered humans touch lips to show love. It felt nice and she soon began to kiss him back. He broke it off and smiled to her, Mora's face completely red.

"Uhh...does, does that mean we are, together? Because I cannot! I cannot yet...but I wanted to get that off of my chest." Gyules looked a little puzzled.

"What do you mean by that..."

"I am not supposed to tell you...but we are raiding Azura tomorrow. We are going to capture it for the Locusts."

"What? Mora...I can't let you do that."

"It's not my command, it's mothers. She is going to be taking me with, you are going to be forced to leave and will be just like normal humans to the Locusts."

"Then I am going to get to Azura as well then." Gyules said "I dunno if I can prevent you from taking the island...I am not even sure if I know I want you not to..."

"We will make sure that device still works, don't worry! How are you going to-"

"I will find a way and I will be like a secret lover." he said and smiled.

"It's too dangerous Gyules, what about Omega?"

"They can survive without me, or more than likely will wanna join me on this. Mora, we can do this, even if it's secret."

"Uhh...I feel like it's too dangerous...but, I trust you." She seemed a little distraught still and then looked over at his body and towards his crotch. She had to ask one thing she was wondering this whole time.

"So...are we supposed to do the sex to commemorate this relationship? I mean uhh...I know what to do I think! Though I believe it's you doing most of the work. I just need like, this off." She began reaching to pull off her own shirt and Gyules pulled it back on.

"Relax Mora. No sex, you are not ready. No, we are gonna do this slower. Let's just, cuddle for now."

"A-alright...but I gotta get up. I can't let Mother know I am here."

"How early you gotta get up?" he asked.

"I dunno...in like...a few hours?" He took a little alarm clock by his bedside and then set an alarm.

"There, it will go off for you to leave. Let's just enjoy each other's company. Talk this over a lot more when we have time to talk." And when they aren't so sleepy. For now he lifted up the covers and she went in. Mora climbed into the covers and was glad he was at least in his pants. She scooted by him and then reluctantly got close. He wrapped his arms around her and held her there. She smiled and then nuzzled herself into his chest. This felt like a new time for her, a happy fun new time in her life. She was excited for her new relationship.

The End

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Merry Christmas, or Hanukah, or whatever you celebrate this time of you. I thank you for reading and dealing with my slowness. I have just been busy with life and have not had time for writing. I am still doing my best, but yeah...just stay tune we got two more stories and an epilogue to go. So yeah...I will work to get those done and see if I can possibly get another series going sometime in the future.)


	34. Chapter 34 Boating

**Omega's Valued Prisoner**

Tale 34: Boating

Gyules and Mora awoke with their alarm early in the morning. The sun was starting to come up in the horizon. Both of them jumped at the alarm and Gyules rushed to grab it, turning it off.

"Can't that noise be far more pleasant?" she asked.

"If it was you wouldn't wake up." he said as he turned it off. She laid back down and then just looked up.

"Can't believe we are really together! This feels so wrong and amazing!" she said and rubbed her face a little "And I could even feel your thing in the night." Gyules stopped toying with the clock, his face turning red and then turning to her.

"Yeah that was awkward."

"If my knowledge if correct that just is when you are excited, so I am glad!"

"Alright...Mora this is a little awkward."

"I don't feel it. I mean I used to be scared of that and I think I am still a little scared, but I am getting-" Gyules pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This is a wonderful start." She laughed and then got up.

"I am going to go to my bedroom and pretend to be there." she said and got out of the tent. Gyules put a shirt on and then stepped out with her.

"I will...uh...see you then?" she said. Gyules gave her a kiss and patted her on the back.

"As long as nothing goes wrong, it should be fine. Now go on cyclops girl. Don't get in trouble." She smiled and then walked off. Mora still worried for Gyules and if she could see him again. Let alone how could she know he is on the island? It could be huge..well wait no it couldn't be if it has a hurricane around it. Could be large like mountains and towers and then they will fill it with Locusts and it will be difficult for him to get about! Hopefully they won't kill him...she kept worrying but yet she knew deep down he would succeed. Gyules was tough, he killed Skorge.

With Omega meanwhile, the rest of the squad began to climb out of the tents, even as early as this. Tanner was the first and he had a comment as always.

"So you and Mora did it."

"What?"

"We are in flimsy tents, she whispered like the first comment and then you two pretty much said: "Fuck sound levels!" and talked normal. I dunno about the others, but Ilian and I could hear it all. Ilian stepped out after him, brushing her hair down and fixing it. She didn't have any of her makeup on yet though, so she appeared much different.

"It's so cute, you two are finally together." she stated "I wonder if your kids will be more human or more Locust." While it sounded like a cut down of sort, Ilian was actually quite serious. She wondered if they would have a daughter and it comes out like a mini berserker, or a drone that growls at them a little. Who knows what it could be, but more than likely it would be more human as that was dominant in both.

"I am happy for you two."

"Errr...thanks Ilian. I know you mean well."

"I do. Now when shall we start making our way to Azura."

"When the Locusts leave and they wanna escort us out, hopefully by then Myrrah will leave with them, we will steal a boat and make our way there. If possible, let's take multiple boats. Can figure out a way to identify them as us and will use this as a surprise and sink any boat carrying Brumaks and such. I don't think we can save Azura from the Locusts, but we can try. After all, we can't get there ahead of them since they supposedly have that tornado over the island."

"Hurricane actually." Aiden corrected.

"Same thing."

"Actually no, a tornado over water is called a water spout and is much stronger than a hurricane, a hurricane requires warm water and-"

"Can we bring a boat through a tornado or a hurricane? I think not, so I don't give a shit. It still applies. We gotta wait for the Locusts to get through. They must have some sort of idea."

"And that idea would be?"

"They got old submarines back there." Osman noted "I was walking through the hangars, I believe the Locusts know how to operate them or have been practicing and are gonna use one."

"Or they are just gonna try and swim under it. I got fifty bucks that says they are gonna try and swim under it." Tanner said pulling out a crumpled fifty dollar bill. The sun is just starting to rise for them and soon they notice the Tempest is flying overhead by the docks.

"That bug gives me the creeps." Tanner said.

"Do not worry. I found a weapon to take it out, if we have to." Aiden said and then went back to his tent. He then came out with a Hammer of Dawn.

"If we are lucky this will work and we can take out any Locust boats. Just not the whole invasion force."

"Where did you get that?"

"Found out, the Locusts merely toss them away. I believe since they cannot guarantee they will work, and because they do not fire an immediate bullet, the Locusts do not use them. This was left on a charging station for it, so it should be ready!"

"Great, we are probably gonna need that." Gyules stated "Can you carry it though." Aiden took out his pistol and tossed it aside, then hooking it to his belt.

"Sure can." he said, not throwing out the ammo. Might pick up a boltok later when the Hammer no longer works.

"So shall we just relax here then? Can't get too close to the boats, I assume Myrrah doesn't want us to know of the invasion."

"Just begin packing up what you can carry-" Gyules was interrupted by the sound of wings. He looked over to see the large Tempest flying above them.

"Well, I see you humans are awake." Myrrah stated. Several shriekers flew from the Tempest's back. Heat radiated from it's mouth, enough so that they can feel it at their distance. The creature was ready to kill it seemed. The rest of Omega had their weapons out and ready.

"Nice of you to greet us...with your bug...yes we have seen it before. Yes it is pretty. You can fly it over there now." Gyules stated and pointed to the ocean. The beast's mouth began to swell with light.

"FUCK RUN!" Gyules shouted as they all tumbled out from the blast and the beast's light began to shine. It burned away the tents instantly. Tanner and Ilian went to the right, Osman, Gyules, and Aiden to the left. Tanner took out his markza and began firing at it as he began to run off with Ilian. Ilian ended up forcing his rifle down.

"Just run, you aren't going to kill it." He said nothing and now began to rush with her to avoid it, running down the building and past the Locusts preparing for war. The Locusts didn't seem ready for them as they went by and were able to avoid gunfire, but were knocking over boxes, soldiers, and such on their way. Osman and Gyules took off running to the left, sprinting as quickly as they could. Aiden had climbed up on a large box and aimed his Boomshot.

Myrrah had the Tempest raise in the air and looked over the humans running only for a boomshot grenade to hit the Tempest's plating.

"Shit...no good." Aiden stated and then jumped off the box as the Tempest sprayed light at it, burning up the box and singing his box. He ran behind the two as they rushed forward. The three men ran into an area between buildings.

"Got a plan Klaus?" Osman asked.

"Regroup, get the fuck out of here."

"Let us go by boat." Aiden noted.

"What!? We can't! She will destroy that!"

"I got the Hammer, nothing resists the Hammer."

"And if that does?"

"It won't."

"And if it does!? We all die!"

"We have to get to Azura. Something is there, something important, even if it's it not the device to kill the Lambent."

"And what will we do about that?"

"Whatever we can."

"...Also it's closer to the docks than the exit."

"You got me there. Fine, I am giving you a chance Aiden." The two then feeling it getting increasingly warm. They look up to see the Tempest above them, it's head poking down and preparing light. They all quickly rush out as it burned the area, completely burning away the walls and singing the ground. The guys kept running forward towards the docks.

Meanwhile Tanner and Ilian are running through the docks and run through the Locusts only for a few Locusts to pull out guns.

"SHIT!" Tanner screamed and then pulled Ilian with him as he ran to the docks. He ended up falling right into a docks Locust boat. Tanner got up and behind the controls, fumbling to make it work as gunshots went off. Ilian instinctively just got into cover and was providing suppressing fire.

"Tanner, can you work it?" she asked. Just as she asked that the boat boosted forward so hard the two fell over. The boat kept rushing out of the docks, being pulled by two creatures going as quick as they can.

"I will take that as a no."

"Yeah it's a no!" he said as he began pulling himself to the control panel. Tanner grabbed a lever that he had used before to make it boost and now pulled it down. The creatures stopped moving though the boat kept going forward a little. It soon stopped and now Ilian reached over to the right side and began to pet it.

"Ilian! We don't have time to pet things, we gotta somehow make it back there and somehow save the others...or at the very least confirm their deaths. Which might be hard because I believe they will be cooked and eaten..."

"What if we inform Mora? She will be able to get her mother to stop."

"Not a guarantee that will work of if we will find her. Hmm...what about...I got an idea." Tanner stated "Drive the boat to the dock and the Tempest. We might die, but if we die we will be heroes."

"You are going to try and snipe Myrrah as she is in her mount?"

"...Yes."

"You can't do it, but try."

"Just watch me!" Tanner stated. Soon they began to drive the boat right towards the docks and the Tempest sprung up into the air. It launched light down at the ground again for a little while and then stopped. A Boomshot blast hit it in the mouth and it recoiled back slightly, but then adjusted itself. Tanner got out the Longshot and aimed. He put the zoom to it's max and now could see Myrrah standing out of the Tempest's mount, trying to look for them. Omega was being quite sneaky. Soon he had the rifle aimed, moving it to keep with boat speed. Tanner had the crosshairs right on her head and then fired.

The bullet whizzed through the air quickly and soon it nailed Myrrah right in the helmet, knocking it off and causing her to fall down. Her ears were ringing and she had to lay back compensating for that. Soon the Locust boats were starting to get out and were firing at Tanner's boat. Tanner quickly got into cover as Ilian docked the boat. She soon saw Gyules, Aiden, and Osman running away from the Tempest.

"GUYS! We got a boat!" she shouted.

"Saves us the trouble, GET FUCKING IN!" he shouted and the guys ran to the boat, jumping in. Myrrah recovered from the shot, her hearing slightly off, but it would recover. Her helmet was shot off. She began to look about and noticed them climbing into the boat.

"AFTER THE HUMANS!" she commanded "Do not let them warn Azura!" Aiden took over control of the boat, Osman, Gyules, and Ilian got behind boxes on the boat, while Tanner got on the Troika at the front of the boat.

"Shoot it in the mouth." Gyules said.

"Did you test that?" Tanner asked.

"Fuck no, just seems logical."

"How is that logical, what about the head?"

"Just go with the mouth! I think it's skin is too tough, let alone it's armoured!"

"Are you two really fucking arguing over this!?" Osman shouted "You sound like whiny bitches!" Soon boats were catching up to them. Osman popped out of cover and began to shoot at the Locusts, but got a brighter idea. He aimed at the beast pulling the boat, shooting that beast until it roared and stopped. Only one half of the boat was going and it ended up not going fast enough and fell behind.

"Shoot the fish."

"Shoot this, shoot that, just let me shoot what I want!?" Tanner complained "Like I might shoot you guys if you don't remain down!" He began firing the Troika at the gunboats followings them to their right. The guys went to their left and soon were using this tactic as gunboats followed alongside, providing heavy Troika fire in return, though not shooting their beasts but at them.

Three gunboats followed on each side. Tanner was easily mulching the other Locusts, focusing on the Troika gunner first and then shooting the others. He just aimed for the legs of the Troika gunner and with that they died. He shot one in the back and killed the driver, while for another he just killed the Locusts on board leaving it stopped in the water.

The guys meanwhile were just blindfiring until Aiden began taking fire and received a few gunshots at his armour. He cursed in pain and yelled to get fire off of him. With that Ilian took out a grenade and carefully aimed, throwing it. She managed to actually get it on board, hitting the center of the boat. It was a fire grenade, causing the boat to catch fire and the fire spread, burning them all on board, or at least giving them 1st degree burns. The boat farthest began trying to catch up to them only for their troops to be shot as they came out, the guys able to see the Locusts poking out a bit and shooting those parts.

Tanner shot a barrel upon a boat and caused it to explode and the boat exploded into pieces. The back end went up in the air and soon hit the water further ahead, causing a large splash. One of the boats thrust itself ahead and got in front of them.

"Tanner turn about! Boat ahead!" Tanner turned and fired at the Locusts on it as Aiden tried to slow down. He quickly began to mulch the Locusts who tried to operate the turret and boat, then the other two that tried to pop themselves up. Their boat slowed down and soon it came to a stop right in front of that boat, avoiding a collision.

"We didn't get killed!" shouted Tanner looking back to them. Right behind him the Tempest landed. Light began to flood from it's mouth and he jumped back. Ilian pulled him into cover and then the light sprayed. It began to cook boxes and the box, killing the creatures that pulled their boat and burned through their cover. When it stopped spraying light Tanner jumped for the turret and grabbed it only to pull his hands back falling over in pain. Ilian pulled him back into cover.

"The fucking turret is heated! It burned through my gloves! Ah fuck ah shit shit shit!" he shouted gripping his hands and dove to the water putting them in. Steam rose from the water as his hands entered. When he pulled them back Ilian could see an area in his hands and fingers where he gripped it.

"That is gonna stay, now your physical attack is halved you were burned."  
>"...What is that referencing!?"<p>

"Don't get confused you will hit yourself."

"NOT THE TIME!" screamed Gyules as Myrrah prepared another shot. Gyules began to blind fire his Lancer at her and Osman joined in. They could hear it hitting the creature int eh mouth, but soon the sharp sound of the Tempest before it fired it's light came by and they pulled their guns in. Aiden began tampering with the Hammer of Dawn and soon he got the laser to start pointing forward. When the light stopped shining, nearly cooking through their cover, Aiden stepped out of cover and then aimed it. Myrrah began to try and get the Tempest to fly only for the Hammer to force itself down. The Locusts in the distance watched as the large laser bore itself down and began to harm the Tempest. Myrrah could be heard grunting in pain as the Temptest struggled to stop. When it finished the Tempest was stunned and Aiden got out of cover and charged forward.

Aiden ran towards the Tempest and took an impressive jump forward, grabbing onto armour above it's mouth just barely. Aiden pulled himself up forward and then climbed on top of it and knocked Myrrah back, taking control of the Tempest and forcing it to fly off of the boat and into the water.

"Get to the new boat! I will handle her!" shouted Aiden. Gyules rushed for the boat and was followed by the others. He rushed to the front of the boat and had his hand out.

"Aiden! Get over here! Jump and we will get out!" His face depicted worry, he wasn't certain how the crazy boar hunter was to get out of this. Aiden was overpowering the Queen and forcing the Tempest to fly to the water.

"I am going to drown it and her!"

"You will die!"

"I can swim! It can't!"

"You are being crazy! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OVER HERE!" Aiden looked to Myrrah and the water and then to Gyules and the others.

"I gotta do this!"

"That is enough human!" Myrrah managed to shove the large human back and now she pulled out a Boltok. She aimed it right at Aiden and fired at him. The power of the boltok up close knocked him back and pierced the armour. He coughed a bit of blood and then slammed himself into her to knocked Myrrah out of the saddle. Myrrah fell into the water, but swam up. She was infuriated at this bothersome human trying to harm her Tempest, which was gurgling water and struggling to get out, only to be forced into the water by her very controls. She took out the Boltok and aimed it at Aiden of whom didn't look to her. Myrrah fired one shot. The bullet swirled the air and slammed into Aiden's head, blowing it apart and killing him. His body fell to it's knees and then hit the ground.

"AIDEN!" Gyules screamed. The entire squad watched in horror as Aiden died. Gyules got up and was about to jump into the water right after him only for Osman to grab him and yank him back.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME! I am going to kill her! I am going to remove her fucking heart!"

"We gotta go Gyules! If you go you will die and so will we!"

"Go without me, more will die if she lives!"

"And don't let yourself be one! Ilian get us out of here, I dunno how much longer I can hold him!" Ilian shook her head and got her mind out of the scene. She grabbed the controls and now force the boat to turn over and started driving it off away from Myrrah.

By the time Myrrah climbed into her saddle they were already out of range for her to catch up to them, let alone the attack had to commence. She kicked the big human's corpse into the water with a little bit of effort. Corpses are not easy to move even if it's eight pounds lighter. Dead weight adds a lot to it. Took a little more than a kick but she removed it and the Tempest floated in the water and began to take flight, coughing out water as it flew. She petted it and looked to the humans trying to flee.

These humans had proven to be most bothersome, felt good to finally get rid of one, even if it wasn't Gyules. She knew they were going to be at Azura and at least then she could track them down and finally kill them.

Now that they had the chance, the Gears began to grieve. They hung their heads in sorrow, though Gyules didn't feel sorrow, Gyules felt anger.

"Why the fuck did he do that!? Dammit we could have figured some other way! Some way we could have survived! Maybe been hurt a little, but hurt is better than dead right!? Fuck he had chances to run and live, and save us! Why did he have to risk his fucking neck, fuck fuck fuck!" Gyules got the point of just mindlessly swearing about all of Aiden's actions until Osman had to yell at him.

"Quit being a fucking bitch! He wasn't fighting for fucking us, he was trying to save Azura and the Locusts from the attack! He wanted to kill the Tempest and Myrrah. It's not just about us and our survival Gyules, there are other people and he actually gave a shit about them! Unlike us who did leave Conway and them."

"That was the best fucking move, that place was awful and we saved towns from Jacob."

"We didn't have that as an intention. Aiden died as a fucking hero, trying to save Azura and all of us! Maybe he didn't succeed, but don't get pissed at his actions."

"I, ah shit I don't exactly feel sorrow Osman!"

"Well then don't just complain. We are all sad, but mourning isn't going to do shit. We need to get to Azura to warn them."

"And what will warning them do? So what if they prepare, not sure what that can do. Myrrah has more than enough raiding force to take on an Island that is small enough for a hurricane."

"We can hope!"

"And what if we get killed? How the fuck are we supposed to survive a hurricane?"

"We gotta try for Aiden."

"He saves us just for us to die to the Hurricane. I am supposed to be in charge I-" Ilian smacked Gyules with her pistol in the back of his head. She knocked him right out.

"He is becoming irrational with grief. People will look down on this, but it's natural. I can see the place, let's try and get to it." she stated pointing in the distance.

"I would ask if you could have lessened it...but I think that was necessary and wanted." She began driving the boat towards the Hurricane and Tanner used his scope to keep eye for the Locusts.

"They aren't in sight so far, I think we are far ahead and might have delayed their launch."

"Gives them time to prep their island defenses." Ilian stated as they made their way to the island. It took about twenty minutes at full speed but soon they were near.

"Great. How do we get in?" Tanner asked looking at it.

"Can we swim under it?"

"I ain't testing that." Tanner pointed out. Soon they began to feel the boat tugging a bit. They looked over and noticed their beasts were watching a fish caught in the current. Soon on one side it began to rush and tried to catch it, bringing them right into the hurricane. They began to grip the boat as they began to feel it lifted. They all began cursing madly as the boat ended up flying into the air. Osman grabbed the unconscious Gyules with his fake arm and held him tightly.

"Fuck...he is gonna pull out my limb!" shouted Osman as the boat was now on it's side and being thrown through the hurricane, whipped around. Tanner reached over and grabbed Osman, holding him up, but now just holding with one hand of his own and nearly slipping. The boat began to be whipped through the entire hurricane, swirling through it as incredible speeds, throwing warm water at them and soaking them. Gyules began to awaken from the water and soon he came into conscious with a raving headache. Once he realized where he was, he joined them in the screaming and tried to pull himself up Osman, only to realize it's Osman.

They were thrown to the top of the hurricane and by some miracle or curse the boat ended up somehow being thrown out of the hurricane and to the eye, where Azura was. They could see the beautiful architecture through the rain, but they really couldn't take it in as they were busy falling from who knows how far. The boat luckily landed upon the rooftop of an interior building, sliding down it and forcing tiles to come off of the building.

"What the fuck just happened!?" shouted Tanner as the boat slid down and soon came off. The boat landed upon a balcony and held itself there, the group about to cheer only for it to break the balcony and fall down to fall down breaking balcony after balcony until there were none and the boat crashed into the ground, creatures dead and everyone frightened.

"Ilian..." Gyules stated slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really...knock me out and send them into a hurricane?"

"Not me, little creatures-"

"Ah! You just fucking, sent us into a hurricane. Yet we somehow survived."

"Well, we survived. Look at the bright side." she said and got up.

"That's why I love her." Tanner stated laying back.

"Because she sends you into Hurricanes?"

"No, that ass." Ilian looked back to him and smacked her own ass to try and tease him. A Lancer was shoved in her face a she walked forward. Soon a group of Onyx Guard had their guns aimed at them. They all put their hands up."

"How the fuck did they get in here?" One whispered to another "Are they Stranded?"

"Can't be, three of them are in Gear armour. We should probably-"

"Hey! Fucks!" Gyules stated standing up "You untrained pussies going to shoot or are you going to recognize we are your fellow humans and do not need to be shot."

"Why are you here?! How did you find out on this place?! Most importantly, how are you here?"

"For some odd reason you guys are sending scouts, I think you noticed one didn't return. Yeah he was captured by some people and then interrogated-"

"You captured and killed them!?"

"No...we killed him."

"How can we trust you?"

"Because I didn't come with a bomb."

"...You could have come with the intention of shutting down the Maelstrom!"

"God you are stupid. How the fuck would I turn that off!? Let alone with four people! Fuck, none of this matters, the Locusts are coming! If we got past the Maelstrom they can too. You got the entire fucking Locust army coming for you including Queen Myrrah!"

"What!?"

"You guys are useless peons. Take me to your commander!" They looked to each other a few times whispered things and then looked over to them.

"We will take you to Dury and Prescott."

"Prescott is alive?" Osman stated as they walked. An Onyx Guard began to contact Dury and Prescott over radio, telling them to come by and talk to these Gears that broke in and warned of Locuts. The two obviously expressed disbelief, but still had to meet them. A few minutes later Prescott and Dury arrived to see the four, of whom did not seem like the pinnacle of the COG army.

Ilian was drying Tanner off with a towel just so she can rub it all over him and mess with him, already having done so to herself, Gyules is laying back in a chair toying with his knife and then poked the end. He caused his finger to bleed and then shook it and sucked upon his finger, Osman had removed his armour since it's wet and was sitting down shirtless and only in pants, pants provided, since his clothing is soaked.

"These are the Gears who got past the Maelstrom."

"And that one is dating Myrrah's daughter." Tanner stated once given the chance, pointing to Gyules with his thumb.

"Now is not the time for jokes. What is this about a Locust attack, actually fuck it, just tell me what the hell is going on."

"Can I get a band-aid first?" Gyules asked raising his hand. They both looked at him a bit annoyed and then an Onyx guard walked off and came back with a pink band-aid that had kittens on it.

"Thank you." Gyules removed his glove and put it over that wound.

"Alright I will start from the beginning. One of your choppers you sent out for some godforsaken reason was shot down by a group of Stranded terrorists working under Jacob Ilima. Jacob recorded the interrogation of a soldier and we attacked Jacob's group, killed them, killed Jacob, watched the disc and found out about the island. Locusts ended up obtaining the disc and now have an army on their way. We saw them and even took one of their boats here after stealing it. Myrrah killed one of our people and now she is going to figure out how to shut off the hurricane and her army will slaughter you."

"You bastard you didn't give Mora any credit! She united local Locusts in the area and, oh wait I shouldn't of said that." Tanner began to state. Dury got up right away.

"I will begin gathering the troops, where do you think they will mostly attack from?"

"can't say, but probably from the coast, have troops every where and be sure to guard whatever it is keeping your mad scientist tech working." Dury began to rush off, almost eager it seemed. He had been waiting for an actual fight for quite a while. Prescott looked over to them then.

"And we are just supposed to trust you? Trust that the Locusts are coming, because of four stranded Gears!?"

"He does ya fucking prick. We are more trust worthy than you. Seriously, what the shit is this!? You built a fucking island, an island so that you guys can just hide out the whole war and let us suffer and die. How can anyone trust you Richard? You still never told them about the Sires and New Hope Research Facility." Prescott began to become offended at this comment, eager to defend it until he heard mention of New Hope.

"What do you know about that?" Prescott asked, extremely worried and surprised "What do you know, about New Haven!?"

"Everything. I know Myrrah, I know the COG made the Sires, made the Locusts and Myrrah herself. C'mon guys, let's go help Dury. That went by much easier than expected." Gyules stepped forward to run and get to Dury only to actually realize his fatigue. It struck him all at once and he hit the ground hard passed out once more today. When Prescott looked back to them he noticed they were all extremely tired, Osman had even fallen asleep. They were worn out from this day and going through a hurricane. Prescott had to do something about them, they knew of New Hope, something had to be done to hide that secret.

The End


End file.
